Honda aim for consistency in 2007

The Japanese team met with the press this morning at Barcelona, where they are rolling out their 2007 challenger. The car itself remains unbranded until the new livery is unveiled next month.

And the Brackley-based squad say they simply want to achieve consistency this season for the first time.

"Our objectives are quite simple for this year," Fry explained. "Number one is to be fully competitive right through the season, and this is something this team, in its present guise and under the title of BAR, never achieved in the past.

"Last year we got off to a reasonable start and we were pretty good by the end of the year, but in the middle we were weak in a number of races, which was very disappointing.

"Even in our best year, in 2004, we had a slump in the middle of the year, and so our simple objective is start competitive, be competitive in the middle of the season, and finish strongly."

But Fry was quick to emphasize the end goal for Honda is to win at least another Grand Prix this season, after the team took their maiden victory at the Hungarian GP last year.

"Do we want to win races? Of course," the Briton said. "Having won our first race last year we got a small taste of it, and we want to win some more.

"The competition this year is going to be extremely tough, with probably more teams being in a position to get podiums than any year in recent history.

"But I'm convinced we can repeat our win of last year, and maybe more, who knows. One thing that you can be sure of is that the teamwork and the level of hard work that we will put in will be matched by no one."

Of the RA107 itself, Fry said it incorporated innovative technical thought that reflected the fact this was the first car to be completely constructed by Honda as a full team owner in almost 40 years.

"I'm particularly proud that, although we have been working with the Honda company for a few years, this car really is a combination of all ours efforts," Fry said.

"This car is very important to us, because I think it characterises the first real Honda since 1968, so I think this is quite an important day for us.

"I think when you see the car, you'll see that it's got some innovative packaging and other ideas that typify a Honda car. We are quite proud of what we've done here."

Fry also singled out Honda's staff stability going into 2007, at a time when several teams are seeing a movement of top-level engineers and drivers.

"One of the things that we've been spoken about in our team I think is continuity," Fry said. "One thing that you'll see at this table, in the garage, the management team, they are pretty much the same people as last year, and I think that's an advantage to us in that we do have this high level of continuity in all areas.

"Our drivers are the ones that we want, and we would not choose to have any other drivers on the grid. The same with the management, and the same with engineers.

"I'm pleased with the work that they've done, and I'm absolutely convinced they are capable of producing the good for the Honda team."