2007 MONACO GRAND PRIX
MONTE CARLO - QUALIFYING
The Honda Racing F1 Team will start tomorrow's Monaco Grand
Prix from the fifth row of the grid after a strong qualifying
performance on the twisty Monte Carlo circuit today. Rubens
Barrichello and Jenson Button both made it through to the
final session and will start in ninth and 10th positions respectively
following the team's best qualifying showing of the year.
Following intermittent showers during morning practice, this
afternoon's qualifying hour remained dry and the two Honda
drivers easily made it through the first knock-out session,
posting the eighth and ninth fastest times. At the end of
Q2, Rubens was the 10th fastest driver, with Jenson squeezed
out by just 0.003 secs. A penalty for David Coulthard stripped
him of his Q2 times which promoted Jenson to Q3. This led
to an action-packed final session that saw the Honda drivers
swapping positions right up to the end.
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
"I would like to say a big thank you to the whole team
today. We did a fantastic job to make it through to the final
session. Little by little we are improving and although we
still have a long way to go and a lot of work to do, we are
encouraged. I know we will get back to where we belong. I'm
very excited for tomorrow. This is always a great race but
starting P9 really gives us a shot at the points."
JENSON BUTTON
"It's great that we made it through to the third session
today. Definitely a step in the right direction. My radio
wasn't working properly and it was crackling the whole time
so in the end I had to unplug it completely, which was far
from ideal because we had to be 'on it' the whole time during
today's qualifying. Monaco places a premium on qualifying
position so what we have achieved today is great. The team
did a good job and we can do well tomorrow so I'm really looking
forward to it."
JACKY EECKELAERT
Engineering Director
"Our best qualifying session of the year and we are very
pleased to see both drivers in the top ten, particularly here
in Monaco where a good grid position can have such an impact
on the race. Both drivers got all of the performance possible
out of the car today with some excellent driving and also
credit is due to the team for the job they did of running
the cars. This morning, the free practice session was affected
by some rain just before and during the session but thankfully
qualifying remained dry and we can now look forward to a stronger
race tomorrow."
QUALIFYING STATS
Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice Qualifying 1 Qualifying
2 Qualifying 3
Jenson Button 7 RA107-04 P9 P9 01:17.297 P11 01:16.457 P10
01:17.939
Rubens Barrichello 8 RA107-02 P10 P8 01:17.244 P10 01:16.454
P9 01:17.498
Weather Overcast
Temperatures Air: 25-26°C Track: 30-31°C
|
