2008 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX SAKHIR
QUALIFYING
The Honda Racing F1 Team enjoyed its best qualifying performance
of the year at the Bahrain International Circuit today. Jenson
Button achieved his target of a top 10 grid slot when he posted
the 9th fastest lap, while his team-mate Rubens Barrichello
will start tomorrow's 57-lap Bahrain Grand Prix from 12th
position.
Jenson completed two runs in Q1, in which his second lap
- 1:32.793s - was 0.8s quicker than his first effort and placed
him an impressive 5th place overall. Rubens also completed
two runs and his best lap, 1:32.944s, placed him in ninth
position.
The track conditions improved throughout qualifying, which
resulted in both drivers improving their lap times in Q2.
Jenson's best lap, 1:32.362s, was his fastest of the weekend
so far and placed him 10th, while Rubens was just 0.2s behind.
RESULTS
Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice Qualifying 1 Qualifying
2 Qualifying 3
Jenson Button 16 RA108-02 P16 P5 01:32.793 P10 01:32.362 P9
01:35.057
Rubens Barrichello 17 RA108-04 P14 P9 01:32.944 P12 01:32.508
Did not qualify
Weather Hot and sunny
Temperatures Air: 28-30°C Track: 38-46°C
JENSON BUTTON
Q. You must be pleased with your qualifying performance?
Did you maximise the current performance of the RA108?
A. "I'm very pleased with our qualifying session today.
To make it through to Q3 and be lining up on the clean side
of the grid tomorrow in P9 is very satisfying for myself and
the team. After struggling a little this morning, we were
able to resolve the issues before qualifying and the car felt
good this afternoon. We can have a strong race from here so
I'm excited about the prospects for tomorrow."
Q. How have you been able to improve the car during
the weekend?
A. "We haven't made any significant changes to the car
since the first two races so really we are just working hard
to optimise the current package. The car is still quite new
to us as we only had the new aero package just before the
first race of the season, so I'm happy with how this season
is progressing. We're moving forward with each race and I'm
confident that this will also be the case in Barcelona when
our next upgrades arrive."
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
Q. How would you sum up your qualifying session today?
A. "I'm quite happy with qualifying today, particularly
as we made a lot of improvements to the car since yesterday,
so it was a very good job from our engineers overnight. Unfortunately
we had a gearbox issue which interfered with my lap during
Q2. Without that, I am confident that we could have had a
place in the top ten."
Q. What are your expectations for the race tomorrow?
A. "I enjoy this track and if the car is performing well
again tomorrow, then I believe that we can be challenging
for points here. A small mistake around this track can cost
you a lot of time so the key is to keep focused and have confidence
in your braking. If we can achieve this, then I'm expecting
a good race."
STEVE CLARK
Head of Race & Test Engineering
Q. Are you pleased with the qualifying performances
of Jenson and Rubens?
A. "Obviously Jenson getting our first top ten qualifying
of the season is very satisfying. He had no 'option' tyres
left for the final session so we had no realistic chance to
threaten the top half, although finishing ahead of Alonso
is helpful for tomorrow. Rubens also had the pace to get to
the last session but he had a gearbox problem on his last
run which cost him that chance. Rubens was able to pass into
Q2 with only one set of option tyres, so he has the advantage
of a new set to start the race tomorrow."
Q. What kind of race can we expect to see tomorrow?
A. "The wind could play a big part and we may see the
track losing grip for the start of the race. We are running
relatively high downforce here so we are hoping this will
play into our hands. There is plenty of runoff at this circuit
so I wouldn't expect many safety car events tomorrow; there
has been just one in the past. There may well be plenty of
overtaking, especially as the tyres start to give up grip.
We were very happy with our race set-up from Friday and Jenson's
car worked well with fuel in the final qualifying session."
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