21/08/2005
NEWS STORY
BAR Honda's Jenson Button finished in the points for the 5th successive race in Turkey today, bringing his BAR Honda 007 home in 5th position and the team closer to 6th place in the Championship. Although Takuma finished just outside the points in 9th place, credit must go to both drivers for two gutsy race performances which certainly helped to make up for the disappointment of yesterday's qualifying.
After lining up in frustrating grid slots of 13th and 20th respectively, both drivers were on fire from the off, making up places lap after lap until they were lying 3rd and 7th by their first pitstops. In a perfectly executed two-stop strategy, Jenson extracted the maximum from the car and his racecraft to deliver a performance he later declared as one of his best this season. It was however tinged with some disappointment at the thought of what he might have achieved with a higher-placed grid slot.
The team split the two drivers' strategies and brought Takuma in at the end of the parade lap, refuelling him for a single stop on lap 29. He drove a faultless race but despite hunting down Christian Klien to the finish he was not quite able to secure a point.
Jenson Button: "I really enjoyed the race! I had a terrible start, but to work my way through the pack was fantastic. For me, it was probably one of the most exciting races this year. The result is a little disappointing in a way because we have had good pace all weekend, but we've just got to try not make the same mistake again. It has been a fantastic weekend for the team and it has shown that we are getting closer to the top two teams, so we are very excited about the next race in Monza."
Takuma Sato: "It was a mixed weekend for me. It was great on the one hand as I had a really exciting race, but it was a shame that I could not finish in the points today. Our qualifying positions cost us the result, but we tried a very different strategy today to try to make up some places. The team has done a great job this weekend and I want to thank everybody who has worked so hard. I hope that we will be able to carry this momentum over to the next race."
Gil de Ferran: "This was the best race of the year so far for our team. Both Jenson and Takuma drove faultlessly, aggressively and very fast indeed. Our engineers' inventive strategy paid good dividends, especially in the case of Taku. The pitstops were executed very well and, last but far from least, Honda once again built an engine that remained strong throughout the race. One can't help wondering what could have happened had we started further up the grid!"
Shuhei Nakamoto: "That was a very exciting race - watching both drivers fight through the field was excellent! We are clearly closer to the front here than we have been in the past. If we continue our development and qualify well in the next races we can maintain our challenge for a race win this year."