Barrichello 'very confident' for 2007

The Brazilian joined Honda last year after six seasons with Ferrari, and he initially struggled to match teammate Jenson Button's form, looking too often slow or lacklustre on track.

But after testing yesterday the new RA107 for the first time, Barrichello was exuding confidence today at the team launch at Barcelona.

"It was a great feeling (testing the new car yesterday)," he said. "It's so different from last year, when everything was new to me, so this year things are a lot more common and I was able to jump into the car and get the feeling from the car straight away.

"It's a good feeling. We only managed to do 40 laps because obviously the first day with the car, you have to stop all the time and check everything, so 40 laps that I enjoyed very very much.

"It's been a learning year (2006), although I've been in F1 for so many years. Last year was quite difficult because I had to jump into a car that initially I didn't quite like and I had to change myself into the style of the car, and in the end I was enjoying it very much.

"This year seemed a lot smoother when I jumped into the new car, which I hope will be very good by the first race. Like I said, I enjoyed it very much yesterday.

"I find the work that the team has put together, and together with Bridgestone, has been superb, and I'm feeling very confident for the season."

This will be Barrichello's 15th season in Formula One, making him, in fact, the most senior driver experience-wise, although he is not the oldest age-wise.