2006 CHINESE GRAND PRIX
SHANGHAI - QUALIFYING
Two very strong performances in tricky conditions today
saw the Honda Racing F1 Team's Rubens Barrichello and Jenson
Button achieve the team's best combined qualifying result
of the year. They ended the session third and fourth - with
exactly the same lap time - and will line up side by side
on the second row of the grid for the start of tomorrow's
56-lap race.
Conditions were changeable during this morning's final free
practice, so all of the drivers reserved their running for
late in the session when the track was improving. Jenson was
third fastest whilst Rubens struggled to get heat into the
tyres and spun, but fortunately he collected the car and finished
16th overall.
This afternoon, the qualifying hour was officially declared
wet and the session gave rise to several casualties as the
drivers battled hard against standing water and poor visibility
in order to secure competitive times. Despite another hair-raising
spin for Rubens along the way, both drivers gained the measure
of the track and were running as high as P1 and P2 midway
through the session. Jenson was forced to pit for a new nosecone
after hitting a wing mirror which had fallen from Raikkonen's
car and onto the racing line. However, once he rejoined the
track he was immediately back on the pace demonstrating the
competitiveness of the RA106 in the wet. The forecast for
tomorrow is for changeable conditions.
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
"I'm thrilled to be back in the top three qualifiers
again, especially after such a difficult session. This is
a great result for the team with Jenson and I in third and
fourth and setting exactly the same lap time. It was pretty
treacherous out there and at times it was just impossible
to push. When I did I spun off and thankfully the gravel slowed
me just enough for me to land on the grass. I was able to
keep the engine running so I could keep going. Aside from
that moment we're looking pretty competitive in the wet and
in the past the race has come my way many times in similar
conditions. If that's the way the weather plays out I'll be
happy but we have a car that works well either way."
JENSON BUTTON
"I'm very happy with today's result, especially with
Rubens and I posting exactly the same time. It's been a very
interesting day in which the Michelins are clearly very strong
in the tricky conditions. It's pretty slippery out there which
made it tough going, but we're looking good I think and I
have a good strategy so we should be able to look forward
to a great race, especially for the fans."
GIL DE FERRAN
Sporting Director
"I guess we can say that we are in a good position going
into the race tomorrow! The weather conditions in qualifying
made it very difficult to predict when the track was going
to be at its best, therefore for both Q1 and Q2 we elected
to run for most of the session. In the end, Jenson and Rubens
got into the top ten quite comfortably. On the final shootout
both drivers did a great job again to qualify on the second
row with exactly the same time, the best qualifying performance
of our team so far this year. It is also worth noting that
Michelin produced a great wet tyre for Shanghai, which was
clearly the class of the field this afternoon. We were competitive
yesterday and again today, which bodes well for the race tomorrow.
The weather is expected to be as uncertain for Sunday as it
was today which always makes the race more unpredictable and
therefore more exciting!"
QUALIFYING STATS
Drivers Car No. Chassis Free Practice 3 Qualifying 1 Qualifying
2 Qualifying 3
Rubens Barrichello 11 RA106-01 P14 P12 01:47.072 P6 01:45.288
P3 01:45.503
Jenson Button 12 RA106-05 P3 P6 01:45.809 P3 01:44.662 P4
01:45.503
Weather Wet and humid, poor visibility
Qualifying Temps Air: 17-25°C Track: 22-23°C
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