Barrichello savours return to points

Rubens Barrichello was glad to "get the monkey off his back" after returning to the point-scoring positions at the Monaco Grand Prix

The Brazilian had not scored any points since the 2006 season, following his disqualification from sixth place in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

But the Honda driver celebrated his return to the points on Sunday, after a strong drive to sixth position.

Barrichello claimed he could have done better, but was still delighted with the result.

"It feels great to be back in the points today and I'm really happy for myself and for the team," said the Brazilian. "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."

Teammate Jenson Button was not as happy after a difficult day, first losing his front win in a crash and then being spun by McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen.

Button went on to finish in 11th.

"My race today was really disappointing," he said. "I had a bad start and dropped a couple of places after getting caught on the inside of turn one. I got round the outside of Rubens in the hairpin and Webber after the tunnel going into the chicane.

"I was alongside 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 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. However Rubens had a good drive and stayed out of trouble to bring points home for the team, so well done to him."