Button Rules Out Imola Victory

David Richards said on Friday that his BAR-Honda team could claim their first Grand Prix victory this season after seeing drivers Jenson Button and Takuma Sato top the times in practice for the San Marino Grand Prix.

Button, who has finished third in the last two Grands Prix, lead a one-two finish in Friday's final practice session to push dominant World Champion Michael Schumacher down to third. The Briton, however, played down his chances of fighting for victory.

Richards, who took over at the team two years ago, said: "Our position this year has been to put ourselves in the top six in qualifying and you have a chance of winning races from there.

"Obviously the package is working well here and I don't think there are any tracks that we think are going to be a significant disadvantage to us. We just need to keep up the momentum and build on the steps we have taken today.

"Our performance is down to the engine, tyres, the guys at the factory and the partnership and I very much hope we can do this again - but I am very much wishing it was Sunday right now!"

Button was still cautious about his chances of victory at Imola and his second-session time was still not fast enough to better Schumacher's best effort in the opening practice.

But while he fully expects Ferrari to run away and claim their fourth consecutive win since the start of the season he remains confident that a podium hat-trick could still be on the cards for him.

"I don't think we've got a chance of winning," said Button. "I think that the Ferrari's are still as strong as ever, I don't think they have lost any speed, and I expect them to be strong again in qualifying and then race.

"Every qualifying session and every race they have been stronger than anyone else by quite a margin and I'm not expecting a huge change here. But we've got a strong package and we're going to get a good result."

Richards added: "I think Jenson is right to be cautious about predicting victories because this is just a good start. We know that Ferrari are very strong and if we get them in our sights I will be very happy.

"A good start doesn't make a summer sometimes. You have to be very careful about these things and we've got a few more years ahead of us before we can do this consistently."