Formula One: Honda F1 race report from Barcelona
7 May 2000
FIA Formula 1 World Championship - Round 5 Spanish Grand Prix, Barcelona - Race Report BAR HONDA SHOWS BETTER PACE BUT MISSES OUT ON FURTHER POINTS Sunday 7 May 2000 The potential of Lucky Strike Reynard BAR Honda's best qualifying performance of the year did not result in a fourth points finish of the season in the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona this afternoon, but the pace of the BAR Honda 002s underlined the progress that the team has made this season. Jacques Villeneuve made his customary excellent start, but appeared to be blocked by the cars ahead and settled into a comfortable sixth position. Running a similar two-stop strategy to the rest of the field, the Canadian showed good race pace and was able to extend his advantage over the cars behind. On lap 21, Villeneuve stopped for fuel and new tyres and rejoined the race, but was forced to retire soon after. BAR Honda team mate Ricardo Zonta was left to carry the flag for the team and did so with one of his best drives of the season. Zonta's get-away from 17th place on the grid was electric and the Brazilian was up to 11th place after the first two corners. Having seen off the challenge of Irvine's Jaguar he then joined a four-way battle for eighth place, edging into the top ten as the first round of pit stops approached. Two good stops by the BAR Honda team maintained Zonta's track position and as the race progressed, his lap times became progressively faster, further underlining the strength of the BAR Honda package. Although Zonta managed to reel in Mika Salo, the laps ran out before he could pass the Sauber driver and a fine race culminated in eighth position. Ricardo Zonta Position: 8th "I made a really good start and, in fact, I got away so well that I had to brake to avoid hitting a group of cars in front of me that included Jacques. I was able to fight a little in the first stint, but then my second set of tyres was not so good. The last set was much better. I pushed very hard and was able to catch Salo at a second a lap, but I needed another lap to pass him. I need to work on my qualifying because if I can start from a better grid position, then I will have a better chance to score points on the race." Jacques Villeneuve Position: DNF "The car was a definite improvement this weekend. It was the best qualifying yesterday and I certainly was not holding up anyone behind me during the race. I don't know what happened after I left the pits, but there was suddenly no throttle and then there was a small fire at the back of the car. It's a shame because we could have made sixth today." Takefumi Hosaka - Managing Director, Honda R&D "It was a real shame today as the weekend had been going as planned. We had secured a good position on the grid and made a good start to the race. All we know so far about Jacques' problem was that the telemetry recorded a drop in fuel pressure. We do not know at this stage whether that was the cause of the problem or the result of it. We obviously need to look into it further and do not want to speculate at this stage. Ricardo did a really good job for us today. He made a great start and drove a very strong race." Craig Pollock - Managing Director, British American Racing "I am very disappointed for Jacques but happy for Ricardo, who had an excellent race. He just went faster and faster. We don't know the cause of the problem with Jacques' car yet, because the mechanics haven't had a chance to investigate it fully. We're definitely going in the right direction, but we've still got to improve the reliability aspect, which I'm sure we'll do." Heinz-Harald Frentzen scored a point for the Jordan Mugen Honda team, coming home in sixth place after an encouraging drive from eighth place on the grid. Jarno Trulli confirmed his ability with his new team by setting the seventh fastest time in yesterday's qualifying session, but a long delay on his first pit stop this afternoon lost him around 40 seconds and the Italian finished 12th. The Formula One calendar moves to the Nurburgring, Germany in two week's time for the European Grand Prix on Sunday 21 May 2000. The BAR Honda team is back on testing duties this week with three days at the Jerez circuit in Southern Spain, 9-11 May 2000. Championship Standings after 5 of 17 rounds DRIVERS P - Driver - Nat. - Pts 1 - SCHUMACHER Michael - GER - 36 2 - HAKKINEN Mika - FIN - 22 3 - COULTHARD David - GBR - 20 4 - BARRICHELLO Rubens - BRZ - 13 5 - SCHUMACHER Ralf - GER - 12 6 - FISICHELLA Giancarlo - ITA - 8 7 - VILLENEUVE Jacques - CAN - 5 = - FRENTZEN H-Harald - GER - 5 CONSTRUCTORS P - Manufacturer - Points 1 - FERRARI - 49 2 - McLAREN-MERCEDES - 42 3 - WILLIAMS-BMW - 15 4 - JORDAN MUGEN-HONDA - 9 5 - BENETTON PLAYLIFE - 8 6 - BAR HONDA - 6 7 - SAUBER - 1