10/06/2006
NEWS STORY
Rubens Barrichello will start tomorrow's British Grand Prix from the 3rd row of the grid after posting the 6th fastest time for the Honda Racing F1 Team in today's qualifying session. On the other side of the garage, British hero Jenson Button had his hopes of qualifying well in front of his home crowd shattered when he was not fast enough on his first run and a call to the weighbridge left insufficient time for a second run.
Rubens Barrichello: "We achieved our target this afternoon which was to put the car in the top six. By the end of the session, we saw that it was very close at the front and we could perhaps have achieved a little bit more and finished 5th. Overall though I'm happy. I'm truly disappointed for Jenson because of his situation and everyone knows that he should have been up there with me as well. I love to race here so I'm looking forward to tomorrow now. It should be a good race."
Jenson Button: "I'm obviously massively disappointed for myself, the team and all of the fans. My first run wasn't quick enough because we had quite low grip. If the car isn't working well on the first run, you don't want to push it to the limit because the penalty for going off the track and not completing a lap is so high. The circuit was improving massively all the time and we thought we would get a second chance to do a run, but then I got called on to the weighbridge and that effectively finished my session. Everyone wants to do well in their home race and I could have done so much better today, but I believe that points are possible and I'll be doing everything I can to get back up there tomorrow."
Gil de Ferran, Sporting Director: "We have mixed feelings about today. On the one hand we are happy with Rubens' qualifying effort; there were some anxious moments at the end of Q1 and Q2, but in the end Rubens did a fantastic job and got everything possible out of the car. With regard to Jenson, we are all terribly disappointed about what happened. In summary, his first run wasn't quick enough and when he got called to the scales it was impossible for him to complete another run. Clearly both cars are much closer in pace than their final qualifying positions would indicate, therefore we look forward to a hard-fought race with both Rubens and Jenson in front of the British crowd."
Shuhei Nakamoto, Management Board Member - Honda Racing F1 Team, Engineering Director - Honda Racing Development: "We cannot be satisfied with today's performance. Rubens showed the potential of the car and did a good job to get the car on the third row but we are obviously disappointed with Jenson's position. We must improve and race hard tomorrow."
To check out our Silverstone qualifying gallery, click here