A thrilling European Grand Prix ended in disappointment for the Honda Racing F1 Team. Rain showers at the beginning and end of the race caused chaos and resulted in only Rubens Barrichello finishing for the team. He came home in 11th place, while Jenson Button retired on lap three.

Rain started to fall as the cars left the grid and it got progressively worse during the opening lap. Rubens and Jenson both love driving in the rain and they made up many positions in the opening few corners. Unfortunately, Rubens’ progress ended at Turn 8, where he was pushed into the gravel trap by Nico Rosberg, and he dropped back to 20th position. Jenson continued to excel, however, and by the end of lap one he had climbed from 17th to ninth.

With the rain falling very heavily, every car in the field pitted for wet tyres at the end of lap one. On re-joining the race, Jenson scythed through the field and was up to fourth place when he  crossed the line to start lap three. But his charge came to an abrupt end under braking for Turn 1, where he hit a river and aquaplaned into the gravel along with five other cars.

Only moments later, the race was stopped.

Once the rain had abated, the race re-started behind the Safety Car, before going green on lap seven. Rubens was in ninth place and he spent the remainder of the race just outside the points.

The middle stint of the race was dry, but rain fell again with 10 laps remaining and while Rubens closed on Giancarlo Fisichella in the damp conditions, he crossed the line in 11th place, 41 seconds behind the Italian.

The Honda Racing F1 Team now heads to Jerez in Spain for a three-day test session ahead of the next race, the Hungarian Grand Prix on 5 August.

RUBENS BARRICHELLO
“I’m bitterly disappointed with the result today. The car felt bad from the start and it never really improved through the race, most likely because of the damage caused when I was hit by Rosberg. I love these dry-wet conditions and we had some opportunities today because of the way the race was unfolding. However, we did not have the car and we did not make the most of the circumstances.”

JENSON BUTTON
“I didn’t get a good start and I dropped to 20th position, however I had a really good first lap and I was up to sixth position when I pitted for wet tyres. After that the rain poured down and turn one was a lake. By that time I was in fourth position behind Massa and Alonso. I just touched the brakes and all four wheels locked, then I hit the wall. It’s a real shame because I had a lot of fuel on board, a good strategy given the way the race then panned out for the others and I love to drive in these wet conditions. This race was unfortunately a lottery and sadly I lost out.”

JACKY EECKELAERT
Engineering Director
“We missed an opportunity to score some good points today. During the first two laps Jenson did well to overtake 15 cars and was in fourth position when he went off and ended up in the gravel trap. In that part of the race Rubens sustained some damage to his rear diffuser when he got hit from behind by Rosberg. Although the race was then red flagged there was not enough time to carry out a proper repair on the grid, therefore Rubens’ car did not perform at all well aerodynamically and as a result his race pace was no match for the cars in front.”