OK, so here comes part four, covering Germany to Valencia, and I’m afraid from this point things don’t look good for Honda.
After the glory of Britain, neither Honda driver excelled in Germany. Jenson had to lap around the track of his maiden victory with no hope of even points, for the second year running, and Valencia gave us one of the most boring races of the year. Notice, too, that, at this point in the season, Jenson took over from Rubens and began to qualify and finish better than the Brazilian veteran.
Germany: July 20, 2008
Qualifying
Jenson Button (JB): 14
Rubens Barrichello (RB): 18
Race
JB: 17
RB: 18
Qualifying was a close thing in Germany with the entire grid being separated by only 2 seconds in Qualifying one. Despite the RA108s improving every lap, Rubens was unable to make it into Q2 despite being just 0.1s slower than Jens. After two runs in Q2 Jenson managed an encouraging P14, which was an improvement on his recent Saturday form. Rubans was disappointed but keen to remind everyone of his efforts in 2000 when he won from 18th. Unfortunately Rubens mate, in 2000 you were driving a World Championship winning Ferrari F2000.
The race didn’t give Rubens his race win, or even a second podium of the season; contact with David Coulthard on lap 50 proved fatal for car 17. As was the case for most of the races this year, both cars started well, taking positions from the start. Rubens made up a place and Jenson fought well with fellow Brit DC for 14 laps before yielding and falling back to 15th.
After his pit stop Jenson struggled with his new prime tyres (having started on the options). He was losing so much time that when the safety car came out, he changed back to primes. This scuppered his race and by the time the race began again he was down in 18th. Jens only made up one more place and thus the weekend ended in disappointment. The team unanimously agreed that the car simply didn’t have the pace.
Hungary: Aug. 3, 2008
Qualifying
JB: 12
RB: 18
Race
JB: 12
RB: 16
Another mixed Saturday, Jenson made Q2 and achieved a decent P12 whilst Rubens pushed himself a little too hard leading to a mistake on a crucial flying lap. Both RA108s had been very strong and close all session with Jenson just in front. Rubens mistake cost him a chance of Q2 but Jenson was happy with his best qualifying since Monaco. Not hugely exciting prospects for the next day, but hey, Jenson won from P14 in 2006 it wasn’t all bad...was it?
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