2007 SPANISH GRAND PRIX
BARCELONA - QUALIFYING
The Honda Racing F1 Team's Rubens Barrichello and Jenson
Button will start tomorrow's Spanish Grand Prix from the 6th
and 7th rows of the grid after ending this afternoon's qualifying
session in 12th and 14th places respectively.
Both drivers made it through the first of the two knock-out
rounds, with Jenson ending Q1 in 15th and Rubens in 14th.
Today's result demonstrated signs of a small step forward
in car stability and performance but there is still a long
way to go.
JENSON BUTTON
"This was a reasonable qualifying session for us today,
all things considered. We are a little bit further up the
grid and closer to P10 which is a nice surprise. We have done
a good job of setting the car up for the race but I really
struggled with the balance this morning and the pace over
one lap. It was much better this afternoon, although I made
a small mistake at turn six and lost some time, which is annoying.
It will be an exciting race tomorrow but unfortunately it
will be tough to get into the points. We have made some progress
though, which is a good sign."
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
"Although we are still far away from where we want to
be this is our best qualifying performance of the season so
far, so I guess that points towards some small improvement
and we can be slightly happier. We started to make some progress
here in testing last week and I am hopeful that we can carry
this momentum through to tomorrow. We have a good strategy
and this should help us to have a better race."
JACKY EECKELAERT
Engineering Director
"Today's qualifying session showed that we have made
a small step in the right direction by closing the gap to
our immediate competitors. Our fastest car qualified in 12th
place, which is not what we aim for, but the drivers and team
made the very best of the car that we have and should be congratulated.
Everyone is working very hard and we are encouraged that our
race pace seems to be somewhat closer to the direct competition,
which makes us a little more optimistic for tomorrow and the
races ahead."
QUALIFYING STATS
Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice Qualifying 1 Qualifying
2 Qualifying 3
Jenson Button 7 RA107-04 P17 P15 01:22.503 P14 01:22.120 Did
not qualify
Rubens Barrichello 8 RA107-02 P13 P14 01:22.502 P12 01:22.097
Did not qualify
Weather Hot and sunny
Temperatures Air: 26-28°C Track: 47-50°C
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