The Temple of VTEC - Honda and Acura Enthusiasts Online - Articles - 2003 Australian GP HF1 Review: Race Results

Lap Chart Courtesy of FIA Website

Jacques Villeneuve and Jenson Button were disappointed to finish today's Australian Grand Prix ninth and tenth respectively after the team failed to capitalise on a potential points finish for both drivers. A combination of the wrong strategy and a problem with Jacques's radio cost BAR dearly, overshadowing an otherwise positive grand prix debut for the BAR Honda 005.

On the grid

Jacques finished the race in ninth, but at one stage he and Jenson had been running fourth and fifth. Jacques set a best lap time of 1:28.770s, showing the BAR 005 has the speed to compete at the sharp end of the grid, but as Jacques explained, the team had problems all afternoon. "I had radio problems so it was very difficult to communicate with the pit wall and both cars ended up pitting at the same time," he said. "We went with what we knew about the tyres but we didn't expect the slicks to get to the halfway point. It took a long time to get the tyres working and I didn't get enough time on any set.

"Our strategy would have been good without the safety cars but things definitely didn't work out for us today."

Jenson was also disappointed to miss out, although his main complaint was the pitstop mix up. He said: "It was very frustrating that we made the wrong tyre choice at the start and for my team-mate to come in on the wrong lap was disappointing and quite embarrassing really.

"The car worked very well in the practice sessions and qualifying so it was very disappointing to finish where we did today because we were very quick in the race."

On the grid

David Richards was disappointed to leav Melbourne pointless, but pointed out that there were plenty of positives to take away from the race, not least that the car had been reliable and lasted the race distance. "It has been a very encouraging weekend in terms of our pace and reliability. Credit must go to all the team, who worked long hours and performed admirably during the pitstops," he said.

"Unfortunately, in hindsight, it looks like we called the wrong race strategy here and we will be reviewing that over the next few days. Our problems were compounded by the fact that Jacques seemed unable to hear his radio properly, which resulted in him pitting at the same time as Jenson. On the positive side we know we have a competitive car and we can look forward with confidence to a much more successful season."

Geoff Willis agreed with Richards and promised that the team would bounce back to form for the next race in Kuala Lumpar. "All the hard work that went into our testing paid dividends this weekend," he said. "At the first stop for tyres we were unsure whether the slicks would last long enough to enable us to take only one more pitstop. With the benefit of hindsight that turned out to be the wrong decision, which resulted in us failing to score points which were there for the taking. A disappointing end to the weekend but we'll bounce back in time for Malaysia."

Both cars in action

Honda's Shuhei Nakamoto had worked hard to overcome problems with the Melbourne-spec engine earlier in the weekend and was disappointed that the cars failed to finish in the points, but he too drew some comfort from the fact that BAR 005 is a very quick car.

"Being so close to a points finish is really frustrating. Both Jacques and Jenson had to pit early on to change to dry tyres and ended up pitting three times, which meant we just lost out on points," he said. "But all in all I think we've shown that we have a fast car over the weekend so I'm encouraged for the rest of the season."