FORMULA ONE: Honda takes first step of third F1 generation

Honda scored the first podium of its third generation challenge in Formula
One when Jacques Villeneuve took his Lucky Strike BAR Honda across the
finish line in third place in the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de
Catalunya, Barcelona.  At the same time, Benson & Hedges Jordan Honda
continued its run of points-scoring finishes as Jarno Trulli finished in
fourth place after a closely fought battle with Villeneuve.  The
Canadian's BAR Honda team-mate Olivier Panis finished seventh while
Heinz-Harald Frentzen ended his race in the gravel following a collision.

An intense 65-lap Spanish Grand Prix bore witness to the sometimes
capricious nature of Formula One as McLaren's Mika Hakkinen retired on the
final lap with engine failure after a race-long duel with Michael
Schumacher, who himself nursed his fragile Ferrari over the closing laps
to extend his lead in the Drivers' World Championship.  The launch control
systems had a say in part of the outcome as both David Couthard and
Heinz-Harald Frentzen experienced problems at the start.

Coulthard, third on the grid, was struggling even before the start as his
McLaren sat motionless at the beginning of the formation lap, forcing him
to start from the back.  When the lights went out for the start and the
field got away, Frentzen was stationary and the Jordan Honda driver
eventually had to start without launch control, dropping to 21st place.

Trulli, Villeneuve and Panis all made clean getaways, ending the first lap
in fifth, seventh and 11th places respectively with Panis bettering his
position by passing Kimi Raikkonen on the next lap.  A handful of laps
later Frentzen, on a climb back through the field, was out of the race
after his Jordan Honda made contact with the Jaguar of Pedro de la Rosa,
who also retired.  By now Trulli was engaged in a fight with Juan Pablo
Montoya's Williams which was eventually decided in the first pitstops. 
Montoya's team-mate, Ralf Schumacher, spun off promoting Trulli to fourth
as he entered the pits, followed by Montoya.

The Williams was first out and Trulli dropped a further place to sixth as
Jacques Villeneuve made a good first stop to move ahead of his Honda
adversary.  At the second round of pitstops, the battle continued,
Montoya, Villeneuve and Trulli all stopping on the same lap.  Although the
order did not change this time, all moved up one place as Rubens
Barrichello's Ferrari retired after going off the circuit.  By now
Hakkinen had taken the lead in the pits from Schumacher and was stretching
his lead when the remaining Ferrari began to slow, with the prospect of
retirement looming in the closing laps.

However, it was Hakkinen who was left at the side of the track to wonder
what might have been when his engine expired on the final lap, handing
victory to Schumacher, who was joined on the podium by Montoya and, of
course, Villeneuve.  Trulli had run him close, only 1.6 seconds adrift at
the chequered flag and through his endurance Panis came home in seventh.

Jacques Villeneuve	Position: 3rd
"It is great.  Everybody in the team has worked extremely hard over the
last three years and this result was much needed for all of us.  It was
particularly satisfying to be able to provide Honda with their first
podium since returning to Formula One.  It was a hard race and we still
have a lot of work to do but this result is a positive step forward."


Kazutoshi Nishizawa - Technical Director, Honda Racing Development
"We are very happy that we have achieved our first target.  We are
satisfied to have made the podium after not being able to capitalise on
the early opportunities.  In the longer term however, this is only the
start and we must improve our performance as a whole.  This was just one
race in one championship and we must work much harder towards the longer
term goals of our programme in order to fulfil our higher ambitions."


Craig Pollock, Managing Director and Team Principal, BAR Honda
"This is a very significant day for BAR Honda.  Even though we have our
first podium we must put in more effort to get to the front.  I'm
delighted for everyone at BAR and at Honda for the hard work they have put
in to get us onto the podium.  We must look forwards and upwards."


Eddie Jordan, Chief Executive, Jordan Honda
"We came away from Barcelona with three more points to maintain our
point-scoring form in every race this year and also achieve the best
result for the team at this circuit, although we were lucky.  I don't
think our pace was strong enough today but Jarno did a great job in the
race to finish fourth and score points for his third race in a row.  We
lost out during Jarno's first pitstop and need to make improvements in
some areas."

Race Results
1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1h31m03.305s
2	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams BMW	1h31m44.042s
3	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR Honda	1h31m52.930s
4	Jarno Trulli	Jordan Honda	1h31m54.557s
5	David Coulthard	McLaren Mercedes	1h31m54.920s
6	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber Petronas	1h32m05.197s
7	Olivier Panis	BAR Honda	1h32m08.281s

Championship Standings (after 5 of 17 rounds)

DRIVERS
1	M Schumacher	Ferrari	36
2	D Coulthard	McLaren	28
3	R Barrichello	Ferrari	14
4	R Schumacher	Williams	12
5	N Heidfeld	Sauber	8
6	J Trulli	Jordan Honda	7
7	J Montoya	Williams	6
=	H Frentzen	Jordan Honda	6
8	J Villeneuve	BAR Honda	4
=	M Hakkinen	McLaren	4
9	O Panis	BAR Honda	3
10	K Raikkonen	Sauber	1
=	G Fisichella	Benetton	1

CONSTRUCTORS
1	Ferrari	50
2	McLaren-Mercedes	32
3	Williams-BMW	18
4	Jordan Honda	13
5	Sauber Petronas	9
6	BAR Honda	7
7	Benetton	1