2006 SAN MARINO GRAND PRIX
IMOLA - QUALIFYING
The Honda Racing F1 Team will start tomorrow's San Marino
Grand Prix from the 1st and 2nd rows of the grid after Jenson
Button and Rubens Barrichello were the 2nd and 3rd fastest
drivers in this afternoon's qualifying session. Both drivers
experienced a solid morning's preparation in the concluding
hour of free practice which laid the foundations for a great
qualifying performance.
The knock-out format was as tense as ever and in the closing
stages of the second session the drivers from positions 5
to 11 were within just a tenth of a second of each other as
they battled to remain in the top 10.
JENSON BUTTON
"I'm very pleased with the result today and to see both
of us in the top three is great for the team. The car was
a lot better in qualifying than this morning and the first
half of the weekend generally, especially in terms of grip
and with the handling over the kerbs. We did a lot of work
overnight and through this morning and I'm much happier for
the race. We'll have to see how things pan out though because
we won't know until then what everyone has been doing through
free practice but I think we should feel quite confident.
The team have done a great job in addressing the issues from
Australia and I think we can have a good race tomorrow."
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
"I'm obviously delighted with qualifying today and I
have to say a very big thank you to everyone in the team for
their hard work in helping me to achieve this result. We have
had some problems in the early races but today's qualifying
shows the amount of effort we have all put into getting the
car more to my liking has paid off. We've had two very good
tests to get ready for this race and the team has really been
listening to me about what I need for things to improve. I'm
much happier with the car now. It's not 100% but we're getting
there and I think we can have a much better race tomorrow.
I'm really looking forward to it."
GIL DE FERRAN
Sporting Director
"We are delighted with the way qualifying went. After
a tough start to the weekend, having Jenson on the front row
and Rubens on the second row in third place puts us in a strong
position going into tomorrow's race. Since yesterday we have
been working hard on the balance of the car and as the weekend
progressed we have been steadily improving. Hopefully the
conditions will suit us further this Sunday. Certainly, it
is very difficult to predict where everyone is in terms of
fuel load and we will have to see how the different strategies
play out, however starting near the front gives us the best
possible chance."
SHUHEI NAKAMOTO
Management Board Member - Honda Racing F1 Team, Engineering
Director - Honda Racing Development
"Good stuff! Clearly both guys did a good job throughout
the session. This has been the best combined qualifying performance
of the year as we were not in any trouble in the early runs
and the guys ultimately put in strong laps. Let's see what
happens tomorrow."
QUALIFYING STATS
Drivers Car No. Chassis Free Practice 3 Qualifying 1 Qualifying
2 Qualifying 3
Rubens Barrichello 11 RA106-01 P11 P9 P9 P3 01:23.242
Jenson Button 12 RA106-04 P7 P6 P8 P2 01:22.988
T-Car - RA106-03
Weather Hot and sunny
Qualifying Temperatures Air: 26-27°C Track: 36-37°C
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