Honda to shake down new car on Monday

The team's senior technical director Shuhei Nakamoto told autosport.com that the new car will have a shakedown at Silverstone on the morning of Monday, January 22, just to ensure there are no niggling problems before its first serious test at Barcelona.

After the shakedown the car will be transported immediately to Spain.

The Honda team are hoping to build on the momentum of the second half of last season, where Jenson Button was the highest scoring driver from the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Sporting director Gil de Ferran said last weekend at the Autosport International Show that he believed both Button and Rubens Barrichello would battle hard in 2007.

"Both Jenson and Rubens I think are in a position to fight for the championship," said de Ferran . "And the fact that they are with us for a second season is a positive, and for a second season together is a positive - they learn from each other.

"Rubens learned how the team operate and, as you saw, our performance in the latter part of the year, it was a team well coordinated I would say and hopefully this will carry on."