Planet-F1

Sun: Renault, Honda, Force India

Sunday 6th April 2008

A trying afternoon in Bahrain, where their cars just weren't quick enough, left Renault, Honda and Force India points-less.

Renault
Fernando Alonso: The race was difficult, as I had expected. Our qualifying yesterday in Q3 had been a big surprise, but we knew that our race pace would not allow us to do much better in the race. We are still missing some speed but we hope to improve in Barcelona."

Nelson Piquet Jr: I made a good start and the car was working well, then I suffered a gearbox problem. I tried to continue but it became dangerous and my engineers asked me to retire so that we would avoid a penalty in the next race. The result is not what we wanted, but I was able to learn a lot again this weekend and that is what I need to keep doing. I will now try to prepare as best I can for the next race, and try to make the most of the next test in Barcelona in ten days time."

Honda:
Rubens Barrichello: It was a good race for us today in terms of the pace of the car. I didn't have a very good start and it was chaotic on the first lap with others going off the track. I was able to avoid any collisions but lost a few positions in the process. After that I was stuck behind Fisichella and lost a lot of time until the team did a great job with my first pit-stop to get me out ahead of him on the road. From then on, the car felt good and I could start closing the gap to the pack ahead Overall we have had a very positive weekend in Bahrain. The car has shown the pace required to make Q3 and the lap times look good from the race today. I have successfully completed my third full race distance of the season which shows strong reliability. Unfortunately we lacked the straight-line speed necessary to overtake on the long straights here today which compromised our race. I'm confident that the developments that we have coming for the next few races will see us continue to improve and enable us to challenge for points."

Jenson Button: I got a good start and was able to make up a couple of places off the line and then I'm not sure what happened into turn five. I was hit from behind, got a puncture and had to pit, which really ruined my race from the first lap. After we'd changed the tyres, the pace of the car was really good and I felt very comfortable with the balance. The lap times were very good for the car that we have at the moment so I was disappointed to be so far down the field following the first lap incident. I caught up with David quite quickly as he seemed to be struggling and I had a go at passing him down into turn eight. I committed early as he hit the brakes, when it was evident that there was a gap where I could get a huge run on him down into the apex. Unfortunately he moved back over to the racing line late in the braking zone and I had nowhere to go and couldn't slow the car down in time. We had to retire as there was significant damage to the rear of the car. It's a very frustrating way to end what could have been a really good race but we will take the positives from this weekend with our first top ten qualifying position and the pace of the car today. We now look ahead to Barcelona where we will have a lot of new developments and I'm confident that we will take a further step forward."

Force India:
Giancarlo Fisichella: I had a good start and I overtook some cars in turn one and then some more when some cars spun in turn seven. Our pace was consistent so I had a good race. In the middle stint there were some problems with the soft tyres and they did not seem to work as well as they could have, but at the end of the race the hard tyres were working well and I was comfortable. I am really happy about my race, the team has done a good job so far and we just need to improve the car a little bit more and then we will be there."

Adrian Sutil: An unlucky race for us. After quite a good start I had an accident in the first corner and lost my front wing and punctured my left tyre so I had to go into the pits. I managed to get back and change the nose and tyres so at least I could do a race distance. The race turned out quite OK without major incidents. The car felt much better but I had some problems with the radio so I came into too early for my second pit stop. The race was a bit messy from that point of view, but at least I could finish and collect some information for the next race."