2006 EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX NÜRBURGRING
RACE
It was a race of mixed fortunes for the Honda Racing F1 Team
in today's European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in
Germany. Rubens Barrichello crossed the line in 5th place
to take four Championship points, but Jenson's race was brought
to a premature conclusion after he suffered an engine failure
on lap 29.
Jenson got a good start off the line, moving up from his
6th place grid slot to 4th by turn four. Rubens lost places
off the grid and was running 7th until a perfectly executed
pitstop put him back out on track in 5th position which, despite
some pressure, he maintained until the end of the race.
JENSON BUTTON
"A disappointing end to a fairly tough weekend really.
I got a strong start and had a good tussle with Raikonnen
through turns 1, 2 and 3 before I got ahead of him to take
4th. The car was inconsistent throughout the race. Some of
it was down to the wind - it was quite gusty out there today
- but the balance wasn't there and it was changing corner
to corner. In my second stint it was starting to come good
as the fuel came down and I would have been happy to finish
5th with a car I wasn't happy with and get four points. Instead,
I had a big loss of power, the engine tightened and I lost
drive so had to pull over. Let's hope for better things in
Spain."
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
"5th is not what we were hoping for but at the end of
the day we didn't have the pace. I was struggling with the
balance of the car and it was just case of surviving and doing
the best we could. Because of that I'm pleased that we at
least have some points but we have to hope for better things
for Barcelona."
GIL DE FERRAN
Sporting Director
"More points, however not as many as we were hoping for
going into this afternoon. Rubens drove a good race, battling
hard all day and especially at the end, to score his best
finish for our team yet. Unfortunately we had an engine failure
with Jenson and he was unable to capitalise on a good start
and first half of the race. Generally speaking we lacked pace
with both cars. With just one week before the next race in
Spain we will not have the benefit of testing, however we
will be analysing our performance this weekend in great detail
with a view to finding some improvement going into the next
round."
SHUHEI NAKAMOTO
Management Board Member - Honda Racing F1 Team, Engineering
Director - Honda Racing Development
"Clearly a bit of a mixed day. It was good to see Rubens
racing so hard and collecting some good points for the team.
We will have to get to the bottom of the engine failure on
Jenson's car as soon as we can - definitely in time for Barcelona."
RACE STATS
Drivers Car No. Chassis Race Result
Rubens Barrichello 11 RA106-01 P5 Fastest lap 01:33.952
Jenson Button 12 RA106-04 DNF Fastest lap 01:34.042
T-Car RA106-03
Weather Warm and sunny
Temperatures Air: 19-21°C Track: 34-40°C
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