2008 SPANISH GRAND PRIX
BARCELONA - QUALIFYING
The Honda Racing F1 Team will start tomorrow's 66-lap Spanish
Grand Prix from just outside the top 10 after Rubens Barrichello
and Jenson Button qualified in 11th and 13th positions respectively.
The drivers each completed two runs in both sessions. During
Q1 Jenson set the faster time of the two drivers on the first
run, but he struggled with the balance of his RA108 on his
second lap and had to settle for a time of 1:21.757s, which
placed him 16th. Rubens tweaked the set-up of his car between
his two runs in Q1 and he improved to a 1:21.548s, which placed
him 14th. Rubens' time was within 0.2s of the car in third
place.
For Q2 the drivers made further changes to their cars and
with track conditions improving by the minute they both improved
their lap times. Rubens' first lap was a 1:21.197s and he
took to the track again in the dying moments of the session
to improve to a 1:21.049s, which placed him 11th and just
0.065s shy of a place in Q3. Despite improving by 0.3s during
the course of Q2, Jenson's final lap of 1:21.211s placed him
in 13th position.
RESULTS
Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice Qualifying 1 Qualifying
2 Qualifying 3
Rubens Barrichello 17 RA108-04 P17 P14 01:21.548 P11 01:21.049
Did not qualify
Jenson Button 16 RA108-02 P8 P16 01:21.757 P13 01:21.211 Did
not qualify
Weather Hot and sunny
Temperatures Air: 23-24°C Track: 37-40°C
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
Q. You were targeting a top 10 qualifying position
today. How do you feel about just missing out by the smallest
of margins?
A. "My final Q2 lap felt perfect and I'm pleased for
myself and the team that we could put in a good time. Unfortunately
we were just not quick enough to be in the top ten, but we
are knocking on the door. I'm very pleased with my lap, and
whilst it is frustrating to be so close, I am happy with our
performance today and we are looking good for tomorrow."
Q. How do you feel about the developments the team
has introduced for this race?
A. "The new aero package is certainly an improvement,
that was evident from the test last week and from the feel
of the car this weekend. We are still making tweaks to find
the optimum performance but we achieved a good set-up for
qualifying today and I'm confident that the same will be true
for the race tomorrow. We are not quite in the position to
be in the top ten and scoring points yet, so we need to take
advantage of every opportunity that arises in the midfield
pack during the race to achieve a point finish. This gives
us plenty to aim for tomorrow though."
JENSON BUTTON
Q. Tell us about your qualifying performance today?
A. "Qualifying was just so close today and it was a tough
session for us. A lot of our work this weekend has been trying
to understand the aero on the car as I missed out on testing
last week. On my last run, I took some front wing off as the
rear end was twitchy and I had too much understeer. This was
really useful as we found it made the rear end more stable
and didn't give me any more understeer, so it's a question
of trying to understand the car and catching up on the time
that I missed last week."
Q. What are your expectations for the race tomorrow?
A. "In the circumstances, I'm pleased with our position
today. I felt a lot more comfortable with the balance of the
car on my final run and we are certainly making progress.
I need a bit more time with the car to understand the new
aero properly and find out how to get the most out of it,
but I'm happy with our position going into the race and we'll
see what happens and what we can take advantage of."
STEVE CLARK
Head of Race & Test Engineering
Q. Was a place in the top ten possible today?
A. "The top 10 times were all very close and Rubens was
just 0.065s away from making it into Q3, so a top 10 place
was certainly within our grasp."
Q. Do you now have a good understanding of the team's
position relative to your competitors?
A. "We have certainly improved the car with our latest
developments, however the same is true of our near competitors
and the goalposts are moving all the time. We know Barcelona
very well as the teams test here all the time. The field is
very tight and with it being so close we are probably seeing
the absolute pace for the first time this season."
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