Honda Report – The Sky is Falling on Their Heads!

Honda Racing could have claimed points today; in fact, they even earned three before having them taken away…

Button, on the other hand, could do nothing as his race ended after the first lap for being involved in the starting chaos. Hopes then rested on Barrichello, who was in the top 8 and holding off the attacks of the reigning world champion.

At the end of a first penalty, he lost positions but as the number of cars was dwindling rapidly, he managed to hold onto a few points. However, in a major blow, he was disqualified tonight for exiting the pits under red lights…

Rubens Barrichello – Disqualified:

Even if the final result of this race is disappointing, I am really satisfied with my performance because we managed to get the best out of the car. It was a crazy race today. It’s hard to end the day this way.

« The performances at the end of the week show that this car has great potential. The guys at the factory have done a fantastic job over the past few weeks on its development. We now look forward to Malaysia and an optimization of the car’s performance. »

Jenson Button – Abandonment:

« I had a good start on my line, getting ahead of Alonso and going alongside Vettel. Unfortunately, there was that race incident that caused damage to three or four cars in the first corner. »

« I thought I could return to the pits to see if the car could be repaired, but the damage was too significant to continue as the left rear wing was broken. Despite these incidents, it was a good opening weekend for us. We are motivated by our performance, and I am now looking forward to the future with Malaysia next week. »

Ross Brawn – Team Principal:

« Shortly after asking Rubens to come in for his second stop, Timo Glock had an accident and the safety car was deployed. We had no other choice but to call him in because he was running low on fuel. But we realized that the pit lane would be closed due to the safety car and that this would result in a 10-second penalty stop. »

Rubens exited the pits while the lights were still red. He had a good start and managed to keep Kimi Räikkönen behind him for 19 laps, so that’s positive.

« In qualifying, we saw that the car’s pace matched the midfield, and today, the race confirmed that we have what it takes to fight for points, which is our objective. The aerodynamic package for Melbourne worked well, but an additional step is needed to seek improvement and integrate Q3 in qualifying. »