Hungarian GP: BAR Saturday qualifying notes

Lucky Strike B*A*R Honda's Takuma Sato and Jenson Button today stormed onto the second row of the grid in Budapest in final qualifying for tomorrow's Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring. Takuma posted the third fastest time behind the two Ferraris, whilst his team-mate qualified alongside him in fourth.

Takuma Sato:

"I'm really pleased with my lap. We expected to be strong here after Germany and this has proved to be the case. I think the weather has taken everyone by surprise and the last few runners this afternoon - including myself - were lucky that the rain held off until after the session. It's a great bonus for the team that we have both cars on the second row of the grid tomorrow. I feel confident about the race and my focus now will be on achieving my objective of a podium finish."

Jenson Button:

"I'm slightly disappointed to be honest. I didn't get enough heat in the tyres on the out-lap and that compromised my quick lap. Nonetheless, locking out the second row behind the Ferraris is a good team result and we can do a good job from there tomorrow. I would have been happier to be on the front row but the Bridgestones have been working better than any of us expected. The most important thing now is to make sure we stay ahead of the Renaults tomorrow."

David Richards, Team Principal:

"A really great team effort; I am especially pleased to see such a consistently strong performance from both cars, and for the second time this year locking out the second row. Once again, we have shown that no matter what type of track we visit, fast or slow, we are competitive. It was not looking like an easy weekend, but this demonstrates that in the toughest circumstances the team has the strength to fight back".

Geoffrey Willis, Technical Director:

"This is a really important circuit to qualify well at, so the team did another very solid job to put both cars on the second row. We expected the car to perform well here, as it has at many other tracks this year. Neither driver had a perfect qualifying lap but despite this it's quite clear that the Ferraris are still very strong. We are in a good position and we should benefit from the warmer conditions predicted for tomorrow's race."

Shuhei Nakamoto, Engineering Director, Honda Racing Development:

"Both drivers have done an excellent job to get P3 and P4 - this obviously gives us a great chance to get on the podium in the race tomorrow".

Jenson Button
Chassis: BAR Honda 006-05
Position: 4th
Lap time: 1:19.700

Takuma Sato
Chassis: BAR Honda 006-06
Position: 3rd
Lap time: 1:19.693

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