Honda expected to qualify higher up the grid

The Honda Racing F1 Team’s Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button will start tomorrow’s Canadian Grand Prix from the 7th and 8th rows of the grid after ending today’s qualifying session in 13th and 15th positions respectively. Both drivers made it through Q1 but struggled during Q2, Jenson experiencing low grip whilst Rubens’ quick lap was compromised when he ran wide onto the marbles.

Rubens Barrichello "It was a good qualifying session today and I like the balance of the car. Unfortunately I lost some time into the hairpin when I ran a little wide on the marbles and with that I lost the chance to go into the top ten. I'm still feeling positive for the race tomorrow however as the car has a good balance and seems to be working better on the old tyres than the new."

Jenson Button "We really struggled with the grip levels in Qualifying this afternoon. The car just didn't feel like it did during practice this morning and had very low grip all round the circuit. I’ve qualified well here over the past few years but unfortunately not today. It's very disappointing for myself and the whole team, but we have to look at the data now and try to make the best of our package for the race tomorrow."

Jacky Eeckelaert, Engineering Director “We expected to qualify higher up the grid but neither of the drivers got a clean lap at the end of Q2. We have also suffered with tyre warm-up problems and therefore a general lack of grip. With race fuel loads tomorrow this problem will disappear. We have a good race pace and with the right strategy we should be able to make up a number of places.”