Barrichello: I'm pleased with my race

The 35-year-old veteran endured an eventful race that involved a long battle with Kimi Raikkonen, a bungled pit stop, where he hit his refueller, taken while the pitlane was closed under safety car conditions. And then he ran the lights on the pit exit which led to his post-race exclusion.

But the fact that his Honda RA108 ran unexpectedly and reliably inside the points positions for most of the race gave Barrichello encouragement for the future.

"Although the final result of today's race is so disappointing, I'm really pleased with my performance and that we were able to get the best out of the car," he said.

"It was a crazy race today and I lost control of the front damper after the first pit stop, so my race was more difficult from there. It's tough to finish the day like this."

"The signs from the weekend show that this car has great potential and the guys back at the factory have done a fantastic job over the last few weeks on its development. It was good to complete a full race distance to increase our understanding of the car. We'll now look forward to Malaysia and optimising the performance of the car there."

Barrichello certainly benefitted from several retirements in the race, with more than half the field failing to make the finish. One of those non-finishers was teammate Jenson Button, who collected Sebastien Vettel at the start.

"I got a good start off the line, getting past [Fernando] Alonso and running alongside Vettel," he said. "Unfortunately it was just a racing incident that caused the damage as we were going three or four cars abreast down to the very narrow and quick first corner.

"I tapped Vettel in the sidepod which seemed to spin him and then he turned in and hit my rear wheel as I was going past. I thought that I could get back to the garage and see if the car could be fixed, but the damage was too bad to continue as the rear left corner trackrod was broken."

Team principal Ross Brawn said afterwards that Barrichello's pace was proof that Honda can expect to fight for points more often in 2008.

"In qualifying we saw that the pace of the car was in the midfield and today's race confirmed that we have the potential to fight for points, which is our target," he said.

"The aerodynamic package for Melbourne has worked well but a further step is required to move us up the grid and enable us to be a regular contender in Q3."