2007 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX - RACE
ALBERT PARK, MELBOURNE
The Honda Racing F1 Team's Rubens Barrichello ended today's
Australian Grand Prix in 11th position after a determined
fight throughout the 58-lap race.
His team-mate Jenson Button struggled with the balance of
his car, then a difficult day was compounded when he incurred
a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane approaching
his first pit stop.
The team now heads to Malaysia for a three-day test at the
Sepang circuit, where it will take advantage of the three-week
break between races to complete important development work
for the next round.
JENSON BUTTON
"Not a very good day or result unfortunately. I was running
heavy with fuel in the first stint and had to pit early because
the car had a massive amount of understeer. At my first stop
I requested front wing but because of a radio problem the
team was unable to respond. When I pitted again, we had to
put a lot of wing on but it didn't make any difference. So
the problem may be in the front end aerodynamics. If that
proves to be the case, then it is something we can certainly
address straight away. Then of course I had the drive-through
penalty which just compounded things. Going forward, once
we know where our problems lie and what we need to do to fix
them, we have three weeks and a test in between to start addressing
them. Hopefully we will be able to demonstrate some improvement
as early as the next race in Malaysia."
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
"I feel like we had a competitive race today, even though
I finished outside of the points. The tyres were working well
and our strategy also worked to our advantage. I was losing
time behind Jenson in the first part of the race but that's
the way racing goes. We have no team orders so I had to find
my way past and go on from there. Apart from that, I thought
we could quite possibly have scored points here. I think we
got the best from the car today so we have shown that there
is a lot of work to do to improve. At least we know where
our problem is and we have some ideas on how to fix them.
I'm sure we can make some progress before Malaysia."
JACKY EECKELAERT
Engineering Director
"On a positive note, both cars ran reliably today. Rubens
drove a strong race from 17th on the grid to 11th place, less
than nine seconds outside of the points. Jenson's car balance
was not good at any stage of the race, which we believe to
be a front end aero problem. On top of that, a drive-through
penalty made him lose several places. We now have to improve
our race pace as we target points-scoring positions. We have
three weeks between the races and we will do everything we
can to give our drivers a more competitive car at the next
round."
RACE STATS
Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Race Result
Rubens Barrichello 8 RA107-02 P11 Fastest Lap 01:28.098
Jenson Button 7 RA107-04 P15 Fastest Lap 01:28.387
Weather Hot and sunny
Temperatures Air: 21-22°C Track: 38-42°C
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