2007 MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX SEPANG 07 APRIL
QUALIFYING
The Honda Racing F1 Team drivers endured a difficult qualifying
session in Sepang today with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello
ending the session in 15th and 19th positions respectively.
Given the performance issues experienced here this weekend,
the team was realistic about the challenge of today's qualifying,
but was disappointed that both cars were unable to make it
through to Q2. A gearbox problem with Rubens' race car confined
it to the garage at the start of the hour-long session, forcing
a last-minute switch to the spare car, which was not set-up
for him. Q1 was therefore an even bigger struggle than anticipated.
JENSON BUTTON
"I'm obviously very frustrated. We know where we are
at the moment and we're doing the best with what we have,
but qualifying 15th is still difficult to accept. We made
it through to Q2 but the car isn't good enough to get us through
to the final session at the moment. It was unbelievable how
much grip I lost towards the end of the second session. So
we start from the second half of the grid and we'll have to
see what the race brings, but this is always a tough race
and tomorrow will be no exception."
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
"There is very little I can say, I am so disappointed.
Given our current performance level, qualifying well was always
going to be a struggle but to find myself where I am is so
frustrating. Immediately before the session we had the problem
with my race car so I had to switch to the spare car. That
car wasn't set up for me, so in many ways it was like starting
from the beginning again. At least by the end of free practice
today my race car was well-balanced but obviously I wasn't
able to benefit from the small improvement we had made with
that car this morning which is very frustrating. Starting
from the back of the grid tomorrow I can only see what opportunities
arise in the race and that is the best we can expect."
JACKY EECKELAERT
Engineering Director
"Jenson's 15th place qualifying position is disappointing
but unfortunately it reflects the current performance level
of the car. Rubens' position is obviously even more frustrating
and less reflective of the car's current capabilities. We
found a gearbox problem on his race car shortly before the
start of qualifying and we had to switch to the spare car,
which is unfortunate as he had found a good balance this morning
and this had put him closer to the pace of Jenson. Tomorrow
will be a tough race and we now have to hope that the good
work we did on Friday on race set-up can give us some possibilities
to improve during the race."
QUALIFYING STATS
Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice Qualifying 1 Qualifying
2 Qualifying 3
Jenson Button 7 RA107-04 P17 P13 01:35.913 P15 01:35.913 Did
not qualify
Rubens Barrichello 8 RA107-02 P19 P19 01:36.827 Did not qualify
Did not qualify
Weather Hot, sunny and humid
Temperatures Air: 34-35°C Track: 27-56°C
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