2005 Bahrain GP Race
B.A.R Honda Press Information Sunday 3 April 2005 REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL No points for either B.A.R Honda driver in the Bahrain Grand Prix, but an improvement in performance leaves the team feeling upbeat for the future ------------------------------------------------ Both Lucky Strike B.A.R Hondas retired from today’s Bahrain Grand Prix, but not before the team had given its most competitive showing of the season so far. Jenson Button and Takuma Sato ran comfortably inside the top seven before they were forced to stop with mechanical problems. The race was a big test of man and machine because the weather conditions were hotter than the sweltering heat of Malaysia a fortnight ago. The ambient temperature at Bahrain’s Sakhir circuit peaked at 44 degrees, with the track temperature never falling below 50 degrees, making tyre wear critical in the latter stages of the 57 lap race. Both B.A.R Honda drivers made good starts from their 11th (Button) and 13th place grid positions, but it was Sato who finished the opening lap ahead of his team-mate. He made up two places to end the lap 9th, while Jenson paid the price for a small mistake in the middle of the lap to be 12th. Takuma then drove a fantastic opening stint to keep Pedro de la Rosa (McLaren) and Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari) at bay and, by the time he pitted on lap 26, he had momentarily held third position. However, from lap 10 both he and Jenson had been suffering from brake problems and it was now that Takuma’s wear became terminal. Within a lap of his pitstop, Taku had two scary moments when his B.A.R Honda 007 failed to slow down, so the team took the only option available and called him into retirement on lap 27. Brake problems also compromised Jenson’s ability to battle with De la Rosa for seventh place, but he was still fast enough to overtake Barrichello for fourth prior to his second pitstop. But then Jenson’s race ended as well. When he pitted on lap 46, the fuel went into the car without a hitch, but a clutch problem stopped him from selecting first gear without stalling. The mechanics tried several times to re-start his car - and eventually got him going - but the damage to the clutch was terminal. His B.A.R Honda 007 stopped at the end of the pitlane. At the front, the race was won by Fernando Alonso, with Jarno Trulli second and Kimi Raikkonen third. Neither Ferrari driver finished in the points. Jenson Button DNF (46 laps) “I got a reasonable start, our car felt strong and we had good pace, so we were obviously hoping for better things. I tried to overtake Fisichella on lap two but he moved across me and I lost three places behind him. From around lap 20 we were starting to experience some bad gear shifts and also signs of brake wear, so I had to start to look after the brakes a bit more. The pit crew removed the tyre to inspect the front left in the last pitstop and it seemed that we would make it to the end of the race. When I tried to select first and pull away though, the clutch problem recurred and I couldn’t pull away. The guys did a fantastic job to try to get me back into the race but then the car stopped at the pit lane exit. We have two weeks of testing now where we have to work hard on reliability for Imola. We will have a new package and a stronger car, so let’s hope that San Marino is where our season will finally get started.” Takuma Sato DNF (27 laps) “We had a great race while it lasted, so it’s a shame that I had to retire from the race. I got a good start and was able to make up lots of places in the early stages of the race, which was very exciting for me and I enjoyed it a lot. This is a very hard braking circuit though and we had a brake wear problem. I am obviously disappointed but the team did a great job keeping me ahead of Rubens following my pitstop. We have to keep focused on the positives now and I’m looking forward to the next two weeks of testing where we will keep pushing to develop the car for Imola.” Geoff Willis, Technical Director “Obviously the team are frustrated to have retired both cars from the race after what was promising to be a good performance for the team. Despite the retirements by Takuma who had run-away brake wear and by Jenson, who in his last pit stop appears to have had a clutch failure, there are a number of good points to take out of the race. As shown by the late first pit stops, both drivers had qualified with high fuel loads and our strategy was working well; the team beat Ferrari in Takuma’s first pit stop allowing him to pass Barrichello. Both drivers drove well, Jenson taking the fifth fastest lap despite having to look after his brakes and Takuma having a strong start and first few laps to move from 13th to 8th by lap three. Takuma was in 6th place when he retired and Jenson was up to 7th. “We now have to investigate the cause of our brake and clutch failures. We have a lot of new parts to test in the next two weeks and with new engines for Imola we have to focus on improving our chassis performance for the next race.” Nick Fry, Chief Executive Officer “It was encouraging that Jenson and Taku were able to run in point-scoring positions and for our pit crew to be able to beat Ferrari in a back to back pit stop race. Obviously it was very disappointing that both cars should stop with different problems, and for Jenson so late in the race when he was on target for a good points finish. We now need to regroup and implement both aerodynamic performance improvements and reliability measures before Imola, where we plan to kick off the European season with some points. The team remain focused on our goal of winning a race this season and with 16 rounds to go and knowing the depth of resource, skill and strength of character in our team, we can still meet our objective.” Shuhei Nakamoto, Engineering Director, Honda Racing Development “It is obviously a frustrating day for the whole team but I thought that both of the drivers did a very good job today and got the best out of the car. We must make the most out of the three week break to improve our situation.”