Jenson Button took home five Championship points for the Honda Racing F1 Team yesterday in the opening round of the 2006 Formula One season, displaying encouraging pace for much of the race.  He ended the Bahrain Grand Prix infourth position after competing for a podium position for much of the 57-lap race and enjoying some great battles, including a thrilling dual with his new team-mate Rubens Barrichello.Unfortunately Rubens' first race for the team was blighted by a gearbox problem and he was unable to push for position.  He ended the race in 15th place.

JENSON BUTTON  Position:   4th  Best lap time:1:32.729"Had I not had such a bad start then this could have been a great race forus.  The pace of the car was absolutely there but the strategy didn't panout because I lost places off the start and wasn't where we had planned tobe at the pitstops. We may not have a podium but we have a very competitivecar and if you look at the lap times when we weren't in traffic we weregenuinely as quick as anyone out there.  I think we go to Malaysia feelingextremely positive.  If we can address the clutch issue which caused theproblem with the start we will be able to fight even harder with thecompetition."

RUBENS BARRICHELLO Position:   15th  Best lap time:1:33.840"It's a disappointing way to finish my first race for the team but in theearly stages we saw a taste of our potential. Jenson and I had a great racewith each other early on which I'm sure got a few people excited!  Soonafter though I knew we had a gearbox problem and I had to try to race withone gear missing.  I was unable to push and had no chance of a pointsfinish, so it wasn't a good way for me to spend the race.  We know that thepace is there so we just have to resolve our problems for next weekend whenI'm sure we will have a much better race."

GIL DE FERRAN, SPORTING DIRECTOR"Jenson drove a brilliant race, pushing hard throughout and showing that wehad very similar pace to the leaders. Unfortunately he had a clutch problemat the start which dropped him back and ended up compromising the wholerace. Rubens was running well early on but he lost the use of a gear whichwiped out his chances. We come away from Bahrain disappointed with our finalresult but at the same time very encouraged by the performance of our carand drivers and looking forward to Malaysia."

SHUHEI NAKAMOTO, ENGINEERING DIRECTOR, HONDA RACING DEVELOPMENT"A disappointing result. Looking at the positives, Jenson's pace matchedthat of Fernando and Michael for most of the afternoon, and he drove hiscustomary strong race throughout, but the start spoiled his chances of abetter finish. It was a shame for Rubens that his debut race for us wasaffected by a gearbox problem. The V8 engine has been strong the wholeweekend, and we remain positive for next week."