Jenson Button was in ebullient mood after qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend, the third round on the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship calendar, as he lines up inside the top ten for the first time this season – and now has points in his sights.
That in itself is a sign of the considerable progress Honda have made since their new RA108 was rolled out back at the beginning of the year, with early testing pace suggesting it was not much of an improvement over its unloved predecessor – if indeed it was any improvement at all. Thanks to the calm and methodical influence of team principal Ross Brawn, however, the Brackley-based outfit has surpassed expectations in every race so far in the new campaign, and Button's ninth spot on the grid in Sakhir is the greatest source of motivation to-date.
“I'm very pleased with our qualifying session today,” enthused the 28-year-old, who turned in an even more impressive fifth-quickest lap time in Q1 before going on to out-pace former double world champion Fernando Alonso in the final Q3 reckoning. “To make it through to Q3 and be lining up on the clean side of the grid tomorrow in P9 is very satisfying for myself and the team.
“After struggling a little this morning, we were able to resolve the issues before qualifying and the car felt good this afternoon. We can have a strong race from here, so I'm excited about the prospects for tomorrow.
“We haven't made any significant changes to the car since the first two races, so really we are just working hard to optimise the current package. The car is still quite new to us as we only had the new aero package just before the first race of the season, so I'm happy with how this season is progressing. We're moving forward with each race and I'm confident that this will also be the case in Barcelona when our next upgrades arrive.”
Rubens Barrichello was never far away from Button's pace, lapping ninth-quickest in Q1 before narrowly missing the Q3 cut by less than two tenths of a second as his team-mate just squeezed in. The Brazilian was equally confident about being able to battle for a top eight finish on race day, however.
“I'm quite happy with qualifying today,” the 35-year-old F1 veteran underlined, “particularly as we had made a lot of improvements to the car since yesterday, so it was a very good job from our engineers overnight. Unfortunately we had a gearbox issue which interfered with my lap during Q2. Without that, I am confident we could have had a place in the top ten.
“I enjoy this track and if the car is performing well again tomorrow, then I believe we can be challenging for points here. A small mistake around this track can cost you a lot of time, so the key is to keep focused and have confidence in your braking. If we can achieve this, then I'm expecting a good race.”
Head of race and test engineering Steve Clark said he hoped the nature of the Bahrain International Circuit would suit the characteristics of the RA108, and he predicted a race full of action and incident.
“Obviously Jenson getting our first top ten qualifying of the season is very satisfying,” Clark beamed. “He had no ‘option' tyres left for the final session so we had no realistic chance to threaten the top half, although finishing ahead of Alonso is helpful for tomorrow.
“Rubens also had the pace to get to the last session, but he had a gearbox problem on his last run which cost him that chance. Rubens was able to pass into Q2 with only one set of option tyres, so he has the advantage of a new set to start the race tomorrow.
“The wind could play a big part and we may see the track losing grip for the start of the race. We are running relatively high downforce here, so we are hoping this will play into our hands. There is plenty of run-off at this circuit so I wouldn't expect many safety car events tomorrow; there has been just one in the past.
“There may well be plenty of overtaking, especially as the tyres start to give up grip. We were very happy with our race set-up from Friday, and Jenson's car worked well with fuel in the final qualifying session.”
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That in itself is a sign of the considerable progress Honda have made since their new RA108 was rolled out back at the beginning of the year, with early testing pace suggesting it was not much of an improvement over its unloved predecessor – if indeed it was any improvement at all. Thanks to the calm and methodical influence of team principal Ross Brawn, however, the Brackley-based outfit has surpassed expectations in every race so far in the new campaign, and Button's ninth spot on the grid in Sakhir is the greatest source of motivation to-date.
“I'm very pleased with our qualifying session today,” enthused the 28-year-old, who turned in an even more impressive fifth-quickest lap time in Q1 before going on to out-pace former double world champion Fernando Alonso in the final Q3 reckoning. “To make it through to Q3 and be lining up on the clean side of the grid tomorrow in P9 is very satisfying for myself and the team.
“After struggling a little this morning, we were able to resolve the issues before qualifying and the car felt good this afternoon. We can have a strong race from here, so I'm excited about the prospects for tomorrow.
“We haven't made any significant changes to the car since the first two races, so really we are just working hard to optimise the current package. The car is still quite new to us as we only had the new aero package just before the first race of the season, so I'm happy with how this season is progressing. We're moving forward with each race and I'm confident that this will also be the case in Barcelona when our next upgrades arrive.”
Rubens Barrichello was never far away from Button's pace, lapping ninth-quickest in Q1 before narrowly missing the Q3 cut by less than two tenths of a second as his team-mate just squeezed in. The Brazilian was equally confident about being able to battle for a top eight finish on race day, however.
“I'm quite happy with qualifying today,” the 35-year-old F1 veteran underlined, “particularly as we had made a lot of improvements to the car since yesterday, so it was a very good job from our engineers overnight. Unfortunately we had a gearbox issue which interfered with my lap during Q2. Without that, I am confident we could have had a place in the top ten.
“I enjoy this track and if the car is performing well again tomorrow, then I believe we can be challenging for points here. A small mistake around this track can cost you a lot of time, so the key is to keep focused and have confidence in your braking. If we can achieve this, then I'm expecting a good race.”
Head of race and test engineering Steve Clark said he hoped the nature of the Bahrain International Circuit would suit the characteristics of the RA108, and he predicted a race full of action and incident.
“Obviously Jenson getting our first top ten qualifying of the season is very satisfying,” Clark beamed. “He had no ‘option' tyres left for the final session so we had no realistic chance to threaten the top half, although finishing ahead of Alonso is helpful for tomorrow.
“Rubens also had the pace to get to the last session, but he had a gearbox problem on his last run which cost him that chance. Rubens was able to pass into Q2 with only one set of option tyres, so he has the advantage of a new set to start the race tomorrow.
“The wind could play a big part and we may see the track losing grip for the start of the race. We are running relatively high downforce here, so we are hoping this will play into our hands. There is plenty of run-off at this circuit so I wouldn't expect many safety car events tomorrow; there has been just one in the past.
“There may well be plenty of overtaking, especially as the tyres start to give up grip. We were very happy with our race set-up from Friday, and Jenson's car worked well with fuel in the final qualifying session.”
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