Jenson Button

First corner trouble down to traction control - Button

16 March 2008

Jenson Button blamed the messy first lap at Albert Park on the new rules banning traction control in F1 for 2008 and said he expects once everyone gets used to starting races without traction control, things should improve.

"There was so much going on," said Button who got caught up in the first lap action and retired before his race had truly begun. "I don't know if Massa's incident caused mine - I had a good start and was past Alonso down the inside and then as I went past Massa's incident I got hit in the rear wheel."

"This circuit is pretty tough because it's a narrow first corner and I think that's the reason for the incidents," he added. "I also think that without traction control some people get great results others don't so it's going to be very competitive into turn one, but we'll get used to it pretty soon."

Honda to extend Button's contract?

18 March 2008

Jenson Button could soon sign a three-year extentoion to his Honda Formula 1 contract according to our colleagues at ITV Sport. Honda F1 CEO Nick Fry has said that the team was confident of securing a new deal with Jenson Button for the long-term.

"Our relationship with Jenson and his management is absolutely first class," Fry told ITV. "He's really been an important part of pulling the team of people that we've now got together. Obviously he's looking towards the future as well, and our objective is obviously to make him world champion. Jenson and the Honda team really are locked solid together."

Fry furthermore was impressed with Button's quality as a racing driver. "He has really improved year after year, and even though last year was a difficult year for us, I think as a driver and an individual he continued to develop," he said. "He's certainly someone we want on our side."

But a new contract is not expected to be signed within weeks. "I think later this year. There's no big hurry - we've got a great relationship with each other and we can take our time."

Button: I'm feeling very positive.

Thursday, 20th March 2008

Britain's Jenson Button will be hoping his race lasts a lot longer this Sunday in Malaysia after he was forced out in Melbourne last weekend following an incident at the very first corner.

Button broke the left rear suspension on his RA108 in a 'racing incident' with Sebastian Vettel's Scuderia Toro Rosso. Despite that though, it was still a pretty positive weekend and Honda were a lot more competitive than many people had predicted.

Indeed Barrichello finished in sixth in the sister car, until he was disqualified - due to a pit lane infringement, while both made it into Q2 on Saturday and in the end lined-up on the grid just outside the top ten, with Jenson 13th and Rubens 11th.

"I'm looking forward to Malaysia," said Button. "Obviously I didn't get to compete in Australia because I had an accident at turn one, but I'm very positive for the next one.

"It's tough racing in 35-degree heat in Sepang but that isn't the real problem, it's the humidity. It's one thing taking in hot air but quite another taking in hot and damp air. It's pretty tough to breath and it can get quite claustrophic in the helmet. You just have to make sure you're prepared and we will be!

"We made a lot of improvements with the car during the Melbourne weekend and I'm hoping for the same improvement over the next race. It's very competitive in the midfield and we have to get the best out of the car at every stage. If we can do that we can get a good result in the race."

Honda team principal, Ross Brawn meanwhile is also convinced that the Brackley-based outfit will be able to do well and hopefully break into the top eight and score some points.

"Whilst the result was disappointing [in Oz], we have to look at the positives. Qualifying confirmed that we are in the midfield and a very strong race drive from Rubens showed that we have the potential to fight for points," Brawn continued. "I think we can have a similarly strong weekend now to the one we experienced in Melbourne.

"We have shown that we have a car with which to target the points and two drivers who are very determined to achieve that.

"It was pleasing to see that the aerodynamic upgrade from Jerez worked as expected and I think we have a good basis for the first three races until we can introduce the next development step for Spain."

Barrichello echoed those thoughts and is similarly upbeat: "We knew we had made a step forward at our final pre-season test in Jerez. What we didn't know was where we were in relation to the other teams. I'm encouraged by the start we have made to the season and for this I have to thank everyone in Japan and the UK for all the hard work that has gone into the car over the past few weeks in particular. I think we are going to have a positive season," concluded the Brazilian.

Malaysian Grand Prix

Malaysian Grand Prix

Malaysian Grand Prix

Malaysian Grand Prix

Malaysian Grand Prix

Malaysian Grand Prix

1st Free Practice

1 F. Massa 1:35.392 20

2 K. Raikkonen 1:36.459 8

3 H. Kovalainen 1:36.556 21

4 N. Rosberg 1:36.578 23

5 L. Hamilton 1:36.626 17

6 F. Alonso 1:37.022 18

7 N. Piquet jr. 1:37.034 28

8 R. Kubica 1:37.218 9

9 J. Button 1:37.282 17

10 J. Trulli 1:37.540 24

11 N. Heidfeld 1:37.649 17

12 K. Nakajima 1:37.649 18

13 R. Barrichello 1:37.076 20

14 T. Glock 1:37.782 27

15 S. Vettel 1:38.219 26

16 D. Coulthard 1:38.232 7

17 M. Webber 1:38.707 12

18 S. Bourdais 1:38.798 25

19 G. Fisichella 1:39.046 21

20 T. Sato 1:40.178 1

21 A. Davidson 1:40.351 14

22 A. Sutil 1:41.269 5

Malaysian Grand Prix

2nd Free Practice

1 L. Hamilton 1:35.055 32

2 F. Massa 1:35.206 33

3 K. Räikkönen 1:35.428 36

4 J. Button 1:36.037 40

5 S. Vettel 1:36.474 35

6 J. Trulli 1:36.493 38

7 H. Kovalainen 1:36.512 30

8 R. Kubica 1:36.671 33

9 G. Fisichella 1:36.756 37

10 K. Nakajima 1:36.838 34

11 R. Barrichello 1:36.879 38

12 N. Rosberg 1:36.908 36

13 N. Heidfeld 1:37.106 3

14 F. Alonso 1:37.328 23

15 N. Piquet jr. 1:37.331 42

16 M. Webber 1:37.346 37

17 T. Glock 1:37.512 35

18 A. Sutil 1:37.614 35

19 T. Sato 1:39.021 27

20 A. Davidson 1:39.361 30

21 S. Bourdais no time 1

22 D. Coulthard no time

3rd Free Practice

1 N. Heidfeld 1:35.019 18

2 K. Räikkönen 1:35.262 17

3 F. Massa 1:35.388 17

4 J. Trulli 1:35.389 20

5 M. Webber 1:35.437 16

6 D. Coulthard 1:35.653 17

7 N. Piquet jr. 1:35.768 15

8 J. Button 1:35.781 19

9 S. Vettel 1:35.827 16

10 T. Glock 1:35.911 21

11 L. Hamilton 1:35.927 13

12 F. Alonso 1:36.068 14

13 K. Nakajima 1:36.183 14

14 G. Fisichella 1:36.229 21

15 N. Rosberg 1:36.490 7

16 H. Kovalainen 1:36.529 16

17 R. Kubica 1:36.618 19

18 S. Bourdais 1:36.668 15

19 T. Sato 1:36.908 14

20 A. Sutil 1:36.939 21

21 A. Davidson 1:37.140 12

22 R. Barrichello 1:37.703 6

Malaysian Grand Prix

Qualifying

1 F. Massa 1:35.748

2 K. Räikkönen 1:36.230

3 H. Kovalainen 1:36.613

4 L. Hamilton 1:36.709

5 J. Trulli 1:36.711

6 R. Kubica 1:36.727

7 N. Heidfeld 1:36.753

8 M. Webber 1:37.009

9 F. Alonso 1:38.450

10 T. Glock 1:39.656

11 J. Button 1:35.208

12 D. Coulthard 1:35.408

13 N. Piquet jr. 1:35.562

14 R. Barrichello 1:35.622

15 S. Vettel 1:35.648

16 N. Rosberg 1:35.670

17 G. Fisichella 1:36.240

18 K. Nakajima 1:36.388

19 S. Bourdais 1:36.677

20 T. Sato 1:37.087

21 A. Sutil 1:37.101

22 A. Davidson 1:37.481

Honda happy with solid qualifying

22 March 2008

Honda enjoyed a solid qualifying session in Malaysia today, once again coming close to achieving a position in the top 10. Jenson Button will start tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix from 11th place and Rubens Barrichello from 14th.

"I'm happy with P11 and to be starting on the right side of the grid for the race," said Button. "The weather was looking changeable with the risk of rain, so we ran early in both sessions to get a banker time in. My final run in the second session was on the option tyres and I'm really happy with the lap as we just missed out on going through by less than 0.1sec."

Barrichello commented, "It was unfortunate that we had a problem this morning with the gear selection which limited my running and therefore when you go into qualifying, you are playing catch-up all the time. However it was a good effort this afternoon and I'm happy with how our session developed to eventually finish in 14th position. It would have been nice to have more time this morning to set the car up a little better but we made the best of a difficult situation."

Honda engineering chief Steve Clark added, "The forecast is for the possibility of rain and for us a wet race would certainly suit our starting grid slots of P11 and P14. It is also our best chance of scoring points. If the conditions remain dry it will probably be a very tight race in the midfield and we would expect most people to two stop and probably at the same point in the race."

Malaysian Grand Prix

Malaysian Grand Prix

Malaysian Grand Prix