The Honda Racing F1 Team were back on the podium yesterday after Jenson Buttonfinished the Malaysian Grand Prix in third position. From second on the gridhe was embroiled in a race-long battle with Renault, holding P2 until Alonsosqueezed out ahead of him after the second round of pitstops. Sunday's resultboosts Jenson's points tally to 11 after two rounds of the Championship,which puts him equal second with Michael Schumacher in the Drivers'standings.
Rubens Barrichello had a disappointing end to a difficult weekend, finishing10th after incurring a stop-go penalty for speeding in the pit lane when hehad been looking good for points.
JENSON BUTTON Position: 3rd Fastest LapTime: 1:35.604"I'm obviously pleased to see us back on the podium but it was the top stepthat we had in mind, so we are a little disappointed. We want to be winningraces and today showed that we are in the fight, but there is still a lot ofwork to be done before we can achieve that target. Having said that, I washeld up by traffic a few times, not least of all by Scott Speed before thesecond pitstop. Had that not happened, maybe I could have come out of thepits ahead of Alonso. Regardless of that though, we have two weeks and atest in Vallelunga to work through our issues and hopefully we can lookforward to better things in Melbourne in two weeks' time."
RUBENS BARRICHELLO Position: 10th Fastest LapTime: 1:36.188"It's certainly been an eventful weekend and it was disappointing to end itwith a stop-go penalty when I was in with a chance of at least coming awaywith a few points. These past two races have been a bit of a learning curvebut I'm sure things will pick up for the next few races and we can start torealise more of the car's potential."
GIL DE FERRANSPORTING DIRECTOR
"We are happy with our first podium of the year. Jenson fought hard allafternoon but in the end we lacked a little pace and he lost some time intraffic during crucial periods of the race, especially around the secondstop. Rubens was on course to be fighting for points, but unfortunately gota 10 second stop-go penalty for a pit lane speed violation. Another goodnote was the reliability of the engine, which in its second race showed noproblems in dealing with the hot conditions we have encountered in Malaysia.We are certainly encouraged by our performance so far this season, but atthe same time are determined to make further improvements and bring uscloser to the fight. Let's see what Australia brings."
SHUHEI NAKAMOTOMANAGEMENT BOARD MEMBER - HONDA RACING F1 TEAMENGINEERING DIRECTOR - HONDA RACING DEVELOPMENT
"Aside from the problem with Rubens yesterday, which necessitated an enginechange, we have been encouraged by the engine performance in the first tworaces. We have two weeks to improve for the next race in Australia and willbe working hard in testing and with the data we have gathered here to do ourbest for Melbourne."
