The Brazilian made up four places, whilst the Brit lost two as he struggled to get away. For this race the Hondas did pretty well on the primes, both fast enough to be held up by one-stopper Heidfeld in his BMW. Jenson’s first stop went well, but a fuel rig problem in Rubens’s stop ruined his race.
The second stops were event-less, Jenson and Rubens rejoined 13th and 17th respectively. When poor old Massa broke down (in my mind costing him the deserved Championship) both drivers gained a place and that’s where they finished on lap 70.
The team concluded that the race showed that Honda had made positive steps forward. Given the result I’m not to sure about that statement.
Europe (Valencia): Aug. 24, 2008
Qualifying
JB: 16
RB: 19
Race
JB: 13
RB: 16
It was at this race that I began writing for B/R. Could I have chosen a more boring race to start with? My first ever article was "Monaco...without the good bits! Another disappointing race for Honda." This title basically summed up Honda’s race weekend.
I wasn’t convinced by the track but both Rubens and Jenson gave it a positive review after initial tests. The weekend started pretty predictably with both RA108s initially slow until the last practice when, after significant set up changes, Jenson managed to get himself up to third.
Now I’m going to tell you a sad secret...erm I was so chuffed to see on my computer screen that Jenson had put in a third best time (and it had been so long since I’d seen such a result) that I took a photo of the screen on my phone! Desperate I know, but I really wasn’t sure when I’d see a similar thing again.
Unfortunately for Rubens, his Friday went backwards and any chances of getting Car 17 high on Saturday’s grid looked slim.
Rubens seemed to show that when his head drops...he has to drag it around with him for the rest of the weekend (perhaps a reason for him being so slow here). He struggled for the whole first session and couldn’t even get higher than 19th. Jenson’s problems were linked to tyre selections. Whereas before he had been quick on Primes, the switch to Option tyres had led to a change of set up and thus a totally different feeling car; the best he could manage was P16.
Suprisingly, and unfortunately for the fans and drivers, Valencia proved to be another track with limited options for overtaking manoeuvres. As Jenson stated himself on Honda’s website, the team’s chances of a decent result were gravely hindered by their poor starting positions on the grid.
Both drivers got off to good starts with Jenson clawing his way up to P13, and Rubens (having started from the pits due to gear box woes) fought to P17. Unfortunately, neither driver was able to capitalise on a one stop strategy that basically depended on a non existent safety car period.
Perhaps if Jenson could have continued Friday’s positive steps forward into Sunday, like the Torro Rosso drivers, he too might have brought home a few decent points like Vettel (who was about to show the world quite how special he is!). As for Rubens, things were never going to go his way. Much like me I think he found Valencia to be a great disappointment.
At the time I ended my article on a positive note stating that Ross Brawn thought the Team had made visible improvements over August, and that it was more a case of bad luck than a continuation of bad things that began back in 2007. I was encouraged at the time, but now with hindsight and the results in front of me I can see that unfortunately it was more a case of bad car than bad luck.
There isn’t really much more to say about these races, apart from sorry for the depressing read! I love the Honda Team and wish them all the best in the future. The team would have to do something pretty drastic to ever lose my support, I hope many other fans feel this way too.
Next three coming up next week.
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