Jenson Button admits Honda must make big progress with its RA108 at its private test at Jerez next week if it is to be a more competitive force at the first race in Australia.
The Briton finished Wednesday's final group test of pre-season at the bottom of the timesheet at Barcelona, with the Brackley squad's new car yet to show it can propel the team further up the grid after its miserable 2007 season.
Honda has the chance to make some progress before it jets out to Melbourne, however, as unlike the majority of its rivals it will be in testing action for three days next week.
And Button says the team has to hope the introduction of its main Melbourne-spec aero package will help it overcome the RA108's early problems.
"Our focus this week was to run through the requirements of a race weekend with qualifying and race practice to ensure that we are well prepared for the start of the season," he said.
"Our main aero updates and some new mechanical developments will arrive for the Jerez test next week and we have a great deal to do there to ensure that we are in a position to be competitive for Melbourne.
"We have been doing a lot of work to overcome our handling issues but the pace and the lap times are not there yet."
Team-mate Rubens Barrichello was in action during the first two days at Barcelona and said he found the car to handle differently on both days.
But after completing 115 laps on day two, he says he has been generally pleased with the RA108's reliability and is holding judgement on its ultimate pace until next week.
"I was able to complete a lot of laps over the two days, particularly with the race distance on Monday," he said.
"We had a minor concern with the engine on Tuesday which cut my race distance short but the issue is easy to address.
"We are finding that the performance of the car is quite varied as I had a different reaction from the car over the two days so we have some set-up work to complete.
"It is too early to make a final comment on performance as we have our new aero update kit to evaluate next week."
SOURCE: ITV-F1
Log in to comment