Rubens Barrichello finally ended his miserable points drought in an action-packed Monaco Grand Prix, and admitted: "I'm glad to get the monkey off my back."
After 22 races without a point, stretching back to his home race in Brazil in 2006, Barrichello grabbed sixth in his Honda around the wet streets of Monte-Carlo.
The 35-year-old steered clear of the trouble that often unfolded, and was left with a smile on his face for the first time in a long time.
"It feels great to be back in the points," said Barrichello, at the end of his record-extending 258th grand prix.
"I'm just glad to get the monkey off my back because it has been quite a wait, but I never lost the faith, and I'm really happy for myself and for the team.
"We are capable of good points results, so I hope this is the start of a stronger period for us.
"We just need to keep our heads down and keep pushing forward."
Team-mate Jenson Button, renowned as a strong wet-weather driver, endured a wretched race, finishing in the place he started from on the grid - 11th.
"My race was really disappointing," reflected Button.
"I had a bad start and dropped a couple of places after getting caught on the inside of turn one.
"I then got round the outside of Rubens in the hairpin and (Mark) Webber after the tunnel going into the chicane.
"I was alongside Nick Heidfeld through the swimming pool when he overshot the corner.
"On the exit, I thought there was enough space for me to go down the inside, but there wasn't and I touched his rear wheel with my nose, breaking my front wing and damaging the bargeboards.
"So unfortunately that was my race compromised on the first lap.
"Later in the race, I got hit from behind by (Heikki) Kovalainen which damaged the rear and spun me off at the chicane.
"So 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."
No comments:
Post a Comment