2007 FRENCH GRAND PRIX MAGNY COURS
RACE
Jenson Button opened the Honda Racing F1 Team's world championship
points account in Magny Cours today. He came home in eighth
place after maximising the performance of his RA107 throughout
the 70-lap French Grand Prix.
His team-mate Rubens Barrichello drove an equally committed
race to finish in 11th place.
Both Honda Racing F1 Team drivers had good starts and went
on to make up three places each on the opening lap. Jenson,
who started on the dirty side of the grid in 12th place, jumped
to ninth place, while Rubens improved from 13th to 10th.
Both drivers used the harder of Bridgestone's two tyre compounds
for the opening two stints of the race and Jenson drove a
very strong middle stint in which he set personal best times
lap-after-lap. As a result he was able to leapfrog Rosberg
at his second pitstop on lap 50, emerging 3.7 sec ahead of
the Williams driver in eighth place.
For the final stint, both drivers switched to the softer
compound tyres, on which Jenson lapped faster than both Fernando
Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella ahead of him. At the chequered
flag, he was just 2.3 sec behind the double world champion.
Rubens fought hard to fend off the attentions of Mark Webber,
who was just 2.1 sec behind at the chequered flag.
JENSON BUTTON
"It was an enjoyable race today and we've shown that
the car has improved a lot with the new package. It's nice
to have a car which gives me the confidence to push and I'm
pleased with my fastest lap time relative to our competitors.
This shows that our race pace is improving, although we still
need to work on our qualifying pace. Once we can get on top
of that, we will be in a much stronger position to compete
for points going forward. All credit to the whole team today
as a faultless race with good pit stops helped me make the
most of our strategy. A good weekend and I'm looking forward
to another one at the British Grand Prix next week."
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
"I was quite heavy on fuel for my opening stint and I
don't know if that hurt my first set of tyres because I just
didn't have any pace in the car. After that, the pace began
to improve but unfortunately it was too late to make any further
progress up the field. We will have to look into the reasons
for the problems but on the positive side we can certainly
say that the car has improved at this race and it is encouraging
to take that step forward. We need to maintain our focus now
and work hard to bring further improvements."
JACKY EECKELAERT
Engineering Director
"Jenson drove a very good race which proves that the
recent car developments have helped us to improve our race
pace. Rubens was not so happy with his brakes and had to drive
defensively as for much of the race he had lighter cars behind
him. All in all one point is a small reward but well-deserved
nonetheless."
RACE STATS
Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Race Result
Jenson Button 7 RA107-04 P8 Fastest Lap 01:16.770
Rubens Barrichello 8 RA107-02 P11 Fastest Lap 01:17.220
Weather Cool and overcast
Temperatures Air: 24-26°C Track: 34-42°C
|
