British driver Jenson Button has denied claims that Honda are in the midst of a crisis after they put in some poor times at testing in Barcelona. None of the Honda drivers – Button, Barrichello or Klien – managed a top ten time on any of the three days.
However Button is hopeful that their pace will improve before the 2007 season begins and that he has no worries about the team.
“We spent a lot of time this week working on the setup and balance of the car,” he explained. We have made some improvements and I believe that we now have a much better understanding of the car and aerodynamics. We still have a lot of work to do before the first race and it will be important to make every day count. I am confident that we can make the right steps to put us in the position that we want to be in.”
Honda have a few reliability worries, but nothing too major – on Wednesday testing, Barrichello suffered from a cracked exhaust.
Jacky Eeckelaert, Honda’s engineering director, has also dismissed the claims of crisis. He said that the times were artificial because Honda did not go for the all-out low-fuel runs at the end of the day, which many other teams with quick times did. He also commented that they will be testing and evaluating some new parts before Bahrain testing, where they should see better test times.
