2007 BRITISH GRAND PRIX
SILVERSTONE - RACE
The Honda Racing F1 Team enjoyed a positive result in its
home grand prix today after Rubens Barrichello and Jenson
Button converted 14th and 18th place grid slots into two top
ten finishes. They finished just outside the points in 9th
and 10th respectively and were the most improved drivers of
the 59 lap race, making up five and eight places respectively.
As the only team to adopt a one-stop strategy, both cars
were running heavy at the start. Losing places in the opening
laps was likely, although Jenson actually gained a place overtaking
Anthony Davidson on the first lap. Despite their fuel load
they maintained good pace to elevate them to stronger positions
as the rest of the field embarked on the first of their two-stop
strategies.
By the time Rubens stopped on lap 31, he had climbed up to
ninth position. He was stationary for just 8.3s and rejoined
the race in 10th place, just ahead of Nico Rosberg. Jenson
stopped two laps later and re-joined in 13th place, behind
Alex Wurz. He fought off the attentions of Coulthard in the
latter stages of the race, driving faultlessly to finish 0.6s
ahead and just 6.4s behind Rubens.
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
"I felt like I had one of my best Silverstone races today
but unfortunately it was not enough for a points finish. We
had a good race and our one-stop strategy worked well for
both myself and Jenson, so it was a shame for the team that
we could not get a point. The car was quite heavy with all
the fuel, which caused it to bottom out a little bit, but
otherwise the balance felt good. We are just not quite there
yet with our overall pace and will be working hard at the
Spa test next week to improve."
JENSON BUTTON
"I'm reasonably happy with our performance today and
it was good to make up some places during the race to finish
10th from 18th on the grid. The one-stop strategy paid off
for us but I didn't get the best out of the car this weekend
as I struggled with rear grip and had a lot of understeer,
which is something that we need to look at. Rubens was able
to get the maximum from the car but we were just a little
bit off. The problem with my back on Friday hampered the preparation
a little bit, leaving just Saturday morning to work on the
set-up. I'm looking forward to the Spa test now and hoping
that we can continue to push and make small steps to improve
our overall performance."
JACKY EECKELAERT
Engineering Director
"As was the case last week in Magny-Cours, our race pace
was better than our qualifying position. Both drivers lost
some positions at the start, but they drove an excellent race
and we maximised the performance of the car with a good strategy
and excellent pit-stop work. The eight cars who finished ahead
of us were the current top four teams in the championship.
Our attention now turns to taking another step forward and
this will be our objective for the test in Spa next week."
RACE STATS
Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Race Result
Rubens Barrichello 8 RA107-04 P9 Fastest Lap 01:23.387
Jenson Button 7 RA107-05 P10 Fastest lap 01:23.581
Weather Warm and sunny
Temperatures Air: 21-23°C Track: 37-46°C
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