By Phil Huff
May 7 2006

Jenson Button's European Grand Prix came to an abrupt halt after his Honda RA106 let him down just 28 laps in to the race. As the driver crossed the line to start his 29th lap, the Honda engine behind him gave up, leaving Button to coast to a halt at the end of the pitlane. "I think it was the engine," Jenson told ITV immediately after his retirement. "It was tightening up when I crossed the line, and there was a lot of smoke out of the rear of the car. I lost a lot of drive and I pulled over and that was it."

Despite the retirement, pace in the car was arguably better than it has been in previous races, with the Briton rising from sixth on the grid to fourth, before dropping back behind Kimi Raikkonen.

"I got a good start," explained Button. "I was up to fourth at the start, had a good little tussle with Kimi, but then after the safety car I was really struggling to get front heat [into the tyres] and had no chance of keeping Kimi behind me. After that the balance wasn't great."

"It's very inconsistent," continued Jenson. "Some of it is the wind, but it's also the car. Corner to corner the balance is changing which is very unusual but, just at the end in the last couple of laps, it was starting to come good as the fuel load came down. But..."

As Jenson trailed off disappointedly, the team were already starting work on resolving the problems facing the team today. With the Spanish Grand Prix in just one week, the team will have their work cut out.