Tyre gamble backfires for Barrichello

The Honda driver, in what could be his final appearance in his home race, decided to put on extreme tyres hoping that they would work better than the intermediates when the rain hit the track near the end of the race.

The decision backfired, however, and Barrichello dropped down to 15th position after having to stop again to put on a different set of tyres.

"It was a crazy race with the weather playing a big role in the result today," said Barrichello. "It was actually quite a competitive race for us in the context of the car's performance and I was running just outside the top ten before the final pitstop.

"When the rain came right at the end of the race, we took a gamble by fitting the extreme wets, thinking that it might pay off if the rain was particularly heavy.

"That didn't work out for us and I dropped a few places when I was forced to stop again just three laps later because the tyres completely overheated.

"We've always done our utmost to extract the maximum performance from the car this year and it is a credit to us that this resulted in a podium finish at Silverstone. Thank you to everyone at the team for keeping their heads up during a difficult year."

Teammate Jenson Button went on to finish in 13th place after deciding to switch to a three-stop strategy to avoid traffic.

"I had a good start to the race, making up three positions out of the first couple of corners, however from there we suffered from being held up in traffic," he said. "We made an unusual call on my strategy, pitting early and switching to what would have been a three-stop programme to avoid the traffic situation.

"When I did have clean air, the car's performance was actually not bad, however unfortunately the strategy didn't really work out for us. We then needed to stop again for wet tyres at the end of the race anyway and fitting the extreme wets didn't pay off for us.

"This weekend brings a difficult and frustrating season to a close for our team but I am proud of the way in which we have persevered and maintained our motivation right to the last race."