The Honda Racing F1 Team scored its first World Championship points of the season in today’s Spanish Grand Prix, when Jenson Button finished sixth. A tenacious drive from the Briton, plus some astute strategy calls from the pitwall, saw him climb through the field from 13th position on the grid.

For Rubens Barrichello the race didn’t pan out so well. The Brazilian ran as high as sixth in the early stages, before retiring with extensive bodywork damage following a pitlane collision with Giancarlo Fisichella on lap 25.

The 66-lap Spanish Grand Prix was an eventful race from start to finish. It had just 13 finishers and two Safety Car periods, the first of which occurred within moments of the race starting, when Sebastian Vettel collided with Adrian Sutil. The race re-started on lap three, with the Hondas running in 11th (Rubens) and 12th (Jenson) positions.

A full course yellow returned on lap 22 when Heikki Kovalainen suffered a 145mph crash at Turn 9. Luckily the Finn emerged relatively unhurt, but the Safety Car was deployed for four laps while debris was cleared up. Rubens and Jenson pitted together, and it was while exiting the pitlane that Rubens had his race-ending clash with Fisichella.

"The car was performing well today so it was especially disappointing that the incident in the pitlane with Fisichella brought my race to an end,” said Rubens. “From what we can see, it was just one of those unfortunate incidents. The team released me and advised me of traffic, so I stayed out of the fast lane. Fisichella overtook me and cut into his box clipping my front wing at the same time. I managed to get round the lap with the wing caught under the front of the car but unfortunately the damage caused to the bodywork was too great to continue and I was forced to retire.”

Jenson drove a 29-lap middle stint, which was longer than any other driver, and that helped him to climb up the order from 13th to fifth. He dropped just one position during his second and final pitstop on lap 54, and he crossed the line in sixth place, just 17 seconds behind Mark Webber.

"It was a good race for us today and I'm really pleased to finish in 6th with three points,” commented Jenson. “Unfortunately the safety car came out at the wrong time for us, although I am pleased to hear that Heikki is okay. I was on a long first stint so it was bad timing and definitely cost me some places. The car was working well with the balance improving lap by lap, particularly on the last stint with harder tyres where I felt very comfortable.”

Team Principal Ross Brawn was delighted that the team now has its first points this season: “It is just reward after the tremendous efforts made by everyone. We have made a good step forward with the new upgrade package and today’s result reflects all the hard work that the team have put into developing the car since the start of the season.

“We are making good progress, which is encouraging for the rest of the season and for the future. I really feel that all elements of the team, chassis and engine are beginning to gel. We have a number of smaller developments to introduce over the next few races, to tailor the package to the varying characteristics of the forthcoming circuits, and at the same time we will be working hard on the development of our next substantial upgrade for Silverstone.”

The Honda Racing F1 Team’s cars now head to Istanbul for the next race on the calendar, the Turkish Grand Prix on 11 May where the drivers hope to build on this confidence-boosting result at the Circuit de Catalunya.