2008 MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX
SEPANG - RACE
The Honda Racing F1 Team achieved a top 10 finish in today's
Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang Circuit in Kuala Lumpur.
Jenson Button brought his RA108 home in 10th place and team-mate
Rubens Barrichello ended the race in 13th position.
Both drivers improved on their grid placings during the course
of the 56-lap race and lapped consistently with the cars around
them, giving the team a valuable indication of the RA108's
current level of competitiveness.
The cars ran reliably in the tough conditions and both drivers
delivered a solid race performance. In an otherwise fault-free
race, the only issue was when Rubens exceeded the pitlane
speed limit after his second pitstop and was required to take
a drive-through penalty eight laps later.
RESULTS
Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Race Result
Jenson Button 16 RA108-02 P10 01:35.715
Rubens Barrichello 17 RA108-04 P13 01:36.693
Weather Hot and sunny
Temperatures Air: 30-31°C Track: 38-46°C
JENSON BUTTON
Q. Does your position today reflect the current performance
level of the RA108?
A. "It was good to finish the full race distance today
and we will get a lot of very useful information from this
weekend. I'm pretty satisfied with 10th place as that is where
the performance of the car is right now. With the majority
of cars ahead of us also finishing, it is a good reflection
of our overall position."
Q. What progress can be made ahead of Round 3 in Bahrain?
A. "We're going in the right direction and learning more
about the car all the time, so we need to keep up the hard
work and continue to develop ahead of the next race in two
weeks' time."
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
Q. How do you feel about your race today?
A. "Unfortunately my weekend was compromised when we
lost the free practice running on Saturday morning, as I lacked
balance in the car for the race today. I had a lot of understeer
and was battling with that throughout the race. The drive-through
penalty after my second stop was unfortunate, even though
I only lost one place, as the markings in the pitlane to indicate
where the speed limit ends were not clear enough."
Q. What have you learnt from the first two races of
the season?
A. "We have learnt a great deal from the past two weeks
and I have been very encouraged by our reliability. We still
have a lot of work to do on the performance but that will
come through our development programme over the coming weeks
in preparation for Europe. We are quite competitive within
the very tight midfield group and it is encouraging to see
that both cars made it through a very tough race today. We
will learn from our experiences, both positive and negative,
and I am confident that we will continue to improve over the
next few races."
ROSS BRAWN
Team Principal
Q. What is your assessment of the car and team's
performance this weekend?
A. "This weekend was more straightforward for the whole
field compared with Melbourne and we saw fewer drivers making
mistakes. Sepang is also a more representative circuit in
terms of car performance, as Melbourne can produce unusual
results. Therefore to see Jenson finish the race in 10th place
with Rubens just behind, in spite of his problems in the third
free practice session, is very encouraging and a real indication
of the car's pace. There is still a great deal of work to
do but we are really starting to make improvements one step
at a time."
Q. After an encouraging start to the season, what
are your plans for developing the car in preparation for Europe?
A. "Our next development step will be introduced for
Barcelona where we will see another aero update and we also
plan to have some new suspension components. Of course every
team will have updates but we feel the rate of our own progress
is significant and we are hopeful that it will see us take
a step up the grid for the start of the European season."
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