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As was the case in Australia last weekend, the Honda Racing F1 Team
knocked on the door of the top 10 in today’s qualifying session at
Sepang. Both RA108s performed consistently, with the result that Jenson
Button will start tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix from 11th place and
Rubens Barrichello from 14th.
Formula One’s mid-field is so close this season that this was a very
intense qualifying session from start-to-finish. Every tenth of a
second counted as the drivers progressed from Q1 to Q2, and Jenson only
just missed out on a chance at Q3. Adding to the breathless nature of
the session were the extreme temperatures of 28 degrees ambient and 83
percent humidity.
Both drivers completed three runs in
Q1 and they managed to improve their lap times on each occasion.
Jenson’s first lap was 1:37.575s and he improved by 1.7s to 1:35.847s;
Rubens improved by 0.5s from 1:37.696s to 1:36.198s. They ended Q1 in
10th (Jenson) and 16th (Rubens) positions.
In Q2 the
drivers completed two runs each and, proving the malleability of the
RA108, they again improved from lap-to-lap. Jenson’s fastest lap of
1:35.208s was just 0.1s shy of Fernando Alonso in 10th, while Rubens’
fastest lap of 1:35.622s left him 14th.
"I'm happy with
P11 and to be starting on the right side of the grid for the race,”
said Jenson. “The weather was looking changeable with the risk of rain,
so we ran early in both sessions to get a banker time in. My final run
in the second session was on the option tyres and I'm really happy with
the lap as we just missed out on going through by less than 0.1sec.
"The
main challenge was choosing between the prime and the option tyre. I
was struggling to get the options to work so I was running on the
primes for most of the session but pretty much everyone else was on the
option tyre. So with that much option rubber going down on the track,
we had to give it a go for my last run in Q2, and we were 0.25s
quicker. That was as quick as the car is today and I put in a good lap,
so I’m pleased with our position."
Lost time in Saturday
morning Practice due to a gearbox problem cost Rubens when it came to
Qualifying, as he confirmed: "It was unfortunate that we had a problem
this morning with the gear selection which limited my running and
therefore when you go into qualifying, you are playing catch-up all the
time. However it was a good effort this afternoon and I'm happy with
how our session developed to eventually finish in 14th position. It
would have been nice to have more time this morning to set the car up a
little better but we made the best of a difficult situation."
With
the top 18 cars separated by just one second in qualifying, there is
all to play for in tomorrow’s 56-lap race. If the Honda Racing F1 Team
drivers can have clean races, they stand a good chance of moving up the
order. Predicted changeable weather conditions also mean that anything
can happen, especially now that driver aids such as traction control
are banned.
“If the changeable weather continues into
tomorrow then being outside of the top ten provides more of an option
to fine tune the strategy,” confirmed Rubens. “Considering my lack of
practice this morning, I'm pleased with my qualifying and 14th is a
good position from which to attack the points tomorrow."
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