Formula 1

French GP: BAR race notes

Jenson Button put 5 points on the board for his Lucky Strike BAR Honda team today when he finished the French Grand Prix in 4th position. This much-welcomed result now gives BAR Honda an extra boost ahead of its British Grand Prix campaign at ...

Published: Jul 3, 2005, 10:36 PM

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Jenson Button put 5 points on the board for his Lucky Strike B*A*R Honda team today when he finished the French Grand Prix in 4th position. This much-welcomed result now gives B*A*R Honda an extra boost ahead of its British Grand Prix campaign at Silverstone next weekend, where Jenson will be eager to build on today's performance in front of his home crowd.

Team-mate Takuma Sato suffered a more frustrating race to finish 11th in Magny Cours. He got off to a great start and soon passed a Ferrari to recover his 4th place starting position. Attempting to replicate the manoeuvre to dispose of Jarno Trulli, he ended up in the gravel and lost four places.

Taku found himself in the same position when a car went off track directly in front of him and kicked up sufficient gravel to unsight him and cause another off-track excursion. Nonetheless, both drivers remained positive about the performance of the B*A*R Honda 007 package this weekend, which bodes well for a more positive second half of the season.

Jenson Button:

"It's great to finally get some points on the board after such a difficult first half of the season. This is a great result for the team and things can only get better for us during the rest of the year. It's also a real boost as we prepare for our home Grand Prix at Silverstone next week."

"I think we had a very good strategy here and the team has worked very hard all weekend to achieve our 4th position today. It's not just about gaining the points, which is great, but how close we were to the podium, which is a big motivator for the team right now."

Takuma Sato:

"I didn't have a perfect start as I was overtaken by Barrichello, but the first part of the race was quite exciting for me as I was mixing it with Jarno Trulli and Rubens. After I tried to overtake Trulli, I suffered with lack of grip and struggled with traction, which got progressively worse throughout the race."

"It's a shame that I wasn't able to score any points today, but five points is a great result for the team and I think that we will perform even better at the British Grand Prix next week."

Gil de Ferran, Sporting director:

"We are quite happy with what turned out to be quite a competitive race for us. Jenson did a great job to finish fourth, with good strategic work from our engineers during the race. Taku was very strong early in the race but unfortunately his race became incident-filled, which prevented him from scoring any points."

"We clearly need more pace but overall not a bad day for us and we are looking forward to Silverstone next weekend. Our thanks to Honda for continuing to develop such a strong engine and to Michelin who, after a difficult last race, bounced back with a win and seven cars in the top eight places."

Shuhei Nakamoto, Engineering director, Honda Racing Development:

"Jenson worked very hard from start to finish and thoroughly deserves his five points today. Takuma pushed equally hard and it was unfortunate that he was unable to get any points. As expected, the latest Honda engine performed well throughout the race and is another solid step forward for the team as we head straight into one of two our home Grands Prix at Silverstone, where we look forward to points success for both drivers."

Jenson Button
Chassis: BAR Honda 007-04
Position: 4th
Best Lap Time: 1:17.408

Takuma Sato
Chassis: BAR Honda 007-05
Position: 11th
Best Lap Time: 1:17.929

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