China: Honda baffled by tyre problem

By Phil Huff
October 2 2006

Honda Racing F1 are baffled by the tyre issues that affected Jenson Button in the Chinese Grand Prix that ultimately cost the driver a podium finish.

Early in the race Jenson was keeping in touch with the leading pack, although never really in a position to challenge them. However, after just a few laps his tyres started to fade, and grip levels dropped. This saw Button drooping further back, and necessitated an earlier than planned pit stop.

This pit stop meant he was running heavier on fuel than those around him, and compromised his race by at least 20 seconds. Had he not suffered the issues, which didn't surface on the sister car of Rubens Barrichello, then he may possibly have been in a position to challenge Giancarlo Fisichella's Renault.

"We simply at this stage don't understand what happened," explained team chief Nick Fry to autosport.com, "because we ended up with two identical cars that had started the race with tyres that had had an identical amount of running on them with identical as far as we could see settings.

"One set of rear tyres lasted two stints because we didn't change Rubens', and the other rear tyres were completely treadless after eight laps. We have no explanation for that."

There is currently no response from Michelin.