HONDA F1

British F1 driver Jenson Button plans to take part in another triathlon.

The 28-year-old Honda racer, who regularly takes part in such events, finished a competitive 16th of the 250 triathletes - just eight minutes behind the winner - in the Sevenoaks Triathlon in England last month.

He won a similar event in Lanzarote over the winter.

Button's next triathlon outing, it has emerged, will be the tough Nokia Windsor Triathlon, which is regularly named 'event of the year' by the British Triathlon Association.

The event will take place on June 15 in Windsor Castle, Eton College and the River Thames, in the south east of England.

"I don't expect to be 16th at Windsor," Button told The Times. "My aim is to be in the top 10 per cent of the finishers. That will be difficult. It's pretty close stuff."

The veteran of more than 140 Grand Prix starts, and winner of one, revealed that he got into triathlon while training at his favourite off-season destination, Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands, north of Africa.

"I go to Lanzarote to train at the Club La Santa, which is used by Olympic athletes because it's warm all year round.

They do mini-triathlons there, so I got into doing it," Button explained.

The Windsor triathlon, to feature some professional athletes, features a 42km cycle ride, a 500m river swim and a 10km circuit run.

"There's some stiff competition," Button continued, adding that Olympic rower James Cracknell will be among the 2000 starters.

"I wish I had more time for training because I'm flying a lot for the Grand Prix and that's quite tiring," he added.

Button insists he has thrown off his earlier image as a lazy Playboy and is now among the fittest drivers on the grid.

"Mark Webber takes it very seriously, too. He runs the Webber Challenge in Tasmania. I would love to do it."

Jenson Button says he is focused on 2009 more than this season and has reconciled himself to settling for points rather than podiums for the rest of this year.

Although Honda has regained ground this season after its dismal 2007 campaign, it remains in the upper midfield.

However, with ex-Ferrari man Ross Brawn having joined as team principal late last winter, there is now much more optimism about Honda's long-term prospects even though it looks set to struggle in the short-term.

Button confirmed that he was thinking about Honda's brighter future more than this season's difficulties.

"We are not going to win or get a podium place, I know that,” Button told The Times newspaper.

"Things aren't as good as I would like them to be, but things are starting to pick up.

"Even before we started racing this year we were talking about 2009.

"Things will change.

"We have a goal.

"We now have a proper technical leader in Ross Brawn.”

The British star said he had been able to stay upbeat because even in Honda's darkest hours last year he was earning praise for his determined driving and his construction response to the team's slump.

"Last year, most of the reports about my season were positive," Button said.

"I'm lucky that I've got great people around me who can point out that it's not all bad.”

In a press interview this week, Jenson Button showed no signs of losing patience with Honda or wanting to switch to a rival team.

The interview follows reports at Monaco that negotiations had begun to extend the 28-year-old Briton's contract beyond 2008.

A British newspaper said at Monaco that there is a chance Button will quit the Japanese team 'to chase his dream of winning the drivers' world championship.'

But to the German publication Auto Motor und Sport, Button said he is feeling 'much better' about his seat at Brackley compared with one year ago.

"It's not so much about the results, which are not great yet," he said. "It's that the general feeling has improved. We are making progress at every race."

"The team was good in the first place but it has been strengthened with the right people," said Button, who was delighted with the appointment as Team Principal of Ross Brawn.

Button reiterated that, compared to the miserable situation in 2007, he now sees light at the end of the tunnel.

"I would not have wanted it to stay like last year. I said to (Honda CEO Takeo) Fukui-san that something had to change. I put on the pressure that we should get Ross on board, and the reaction showed me that my opinion is taken seriously."

"When it was official that Ross had signed, I don't think there was one person in the team who was not enthusiastic. Everyone thought: this is the turning point."

"Now I feel that it is worth it to wait."

Button said he is looking forward to next year.

"2009 is a special situation because the rules are changing so much - everyone is going to start from zero. That is our chance," he explained.

Rubens Barrichello says he's not yet ready to quit F1, insisting that he's "driving better than at any other time."

Two weeks ago in Turkey the Brazilian became the most capped F1 driver in the history of the sport, clocking up his 257th race start.

One race later and Barrichello was back in the points for the first time in more than a year, finishing the Monaco GP in sixth place.

And even though his three points were some way off from the ten he would have scored if he's won the race, something he hasn't done since joining Honda, Barrichello reckons it was another step in the right direction for himself and the team.

"I miss winning races - in fact I miss it terribly. That's why I put so much effort into testing and getting things done. I just know that I am prepared whenever the car is ready," he told the official F1 website.

The Brazilian, though, denied that the lack of wins or that fact that he now holds the record for the most grand prix starts mean that this season could be his 'farewell tour'.

"The celebration and the cake and all the appreciation from the other teams has all been very nice - and I was definitely moved to witness all that - but I am still doing my job and Sunday's result has proved that. So why should I want to put all that behind me?"

"I am very motivated and with the joining of Ross Brawn, I definitely feel that we are undergoing a change for the better.

"For sure, the car is not that good yet for what I want to achieve, but right now I have the feeling that I am driving better than at any other time, so all I need is a quick car to perform. My mind still says yes to racing."

Barrichello's Honda deal expires at the end of this season.

Mike Conway wants next year his debut in Formula 1 to make the team at Honda. The Englishman drive this year in GP2 and is already part of the training of the Japanese team. For 2009 he hopes the place of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello to be taken.

Conway: "Honda is a good place to start. The results started to come and next year they will still be much higher. "The Englishman is currently tenth in the GP2 championship with ten points. Conway has a Martin Brundle and Mark Blundell two former Formula 1 drivers will act as.

The team of Honda not represent a lack of financial resources as an excuse to argue the lack of successes. The Formula 1 team have the full support of autogigant Honda Motor Company.

Takeo Fukui, director of the Japanese car manufacturer and autosportliefhebber, said: "Our score in the Formula 1 is zero, we have achieved nothing. That gives me pain. If one trillion yen us to the summit would bring, I would immediately give. ” Our problems are not with money to solve. "
A trillion yen is roughly equivalent to six handred million euros.

First points of the year for Rubens Barrichello in the Monaco Grand Prix.

The Honda Racing F1 Team added three points to its tally in the World Championship this afternoon, when Rubens Barrichello finished sixth in the Monaco Grand Prix. His team-mate Jenson Button came home in 11th place.

It was an eventful race from start-to-finish. Both Honda Racing F1 Team drivers made good starts, but Jenson’s hopes of a points finish were over before the end of the opening lap when he collided with Nick Heidfeld on the exit of the Swimming Pool. He pitted immediately to replace his front wing, but rejoined the race in 20th place.

Rubens, meanwhile, circulated in 11th place during the early laps. The Safety Car was then deployed on lap eight for the first time when David Coulthard and Sebastien Bourdais crashed at Massanet. The debris was cleared quickly and the race re-started only two laps later, and by lap 16 Rubens was up into the points.

As the race entered its middle section, Rubens was flying in his RA108. He set the fastest lap of the race on two consecutive laps and was up to sixth place by lap 51, having overtaken Jarno Trulli and Mark Webber. He made his only pitstop of the race on lap 54, when he fitted dry tyres and rejoined the race in eighth place.

The drama wasn’t over, however. The Safety Car was deployed for the second time on lap 61 following an accident involving Nico Rosberg, and soon after the re-start, two drivers – Kimi Raikkonen and Adrian Sutil – collided, which promoted Rubens to sixth place. The race was then stopped two laps shy of its scheduled 78 laps when it passed the two-hour time limit.

“It feels great to be back in the points today and I'm really happy for myself and for the team,” said Rubens. “We had a good race, however it was unfortunate that I was held up by Trulli for so long early on, otherwise it could have been even better. I'm glad to get the monkey off my back in terms of scoring points as it has been quite a wait, but I never lost the faith. We are capable of good points results and I hope this is the start of a stronger period for us. We just need to keep our heads down and keep pushing forward.”

Jenson’s race was a frustrating one for the Briton: “It was a messy race and I'm disappointed as we should have come away from here with some points given the pace of the car. However, Rubens had a good drive and stayed out of trouble to bring points home for the team, so well done to him."

“Today’s race was full of incident and attrition,” commented Ross Brawn, “with Rubens doing a splendid job to keep clear of all the trouble and drive a very disciplined race into sixth place. Jenson’s race had a setback when he collided with Heidfeld towards the end of the first lap, and as the race evolved, there was no opportunity for him to get back into the points despite showing great speed at times. It is satisfying to score points once again and our pace this weekend deserved it.”

The Honda Racing F1 Team now has a two-week break prior to the next race on the calendar, the Canadian Grand Prix on 8 June.