Honda target step forward by Canada
Honda Racing will almost certainly have to wait until a new car comes on tap at the Canadian Grand Prix before they start delivering a big improvement in form, claims team boss Nick Fry
The Japanese manufacturer are pinning hopes of a revival this season on a heavily revamped RA107 - which sources suggest will be a B-spec car in all but name.
Fry actually believes that the current RA107 may be worse that its current form suggests, and only improvements planned for Barcelona and Montreal are going to dig them out of their current plight.
"The job at the moment is to do the best we can with what we have," Fry told autosport.com. "And although it is a tough thing to say, it is right to say that actually at both races (this season) we overachieved compared to what we might have expected to do with this car.
"That is a tough thing for us to swallow but on the other hand it is probably the truth of the matter."
Fry is determined to keep a positive slant on the situation, and is optimistic that the work going on back at the factory will pay dividends.
"The guys are doing a great job with what they have got. I think with our strategy we are pretty strong, obviously the car is reliable and we have to look at the positive things.
"Next week at Bahrain we have to concentrate on making the most of what we have got and then in Barcelona we will have some improvements on the car, at least I hope so. We are working hard on that.
"Then hopefully for Canada we can take another step forward. There is no shortage of work going on. There is as much if not more than any other team. We are pretty good at digging ourselves out of holes and I am sure we will dig ourselves out of this one."
Fry confesses that the cause of their current situation can be traced back to the start of 2005, when the team began suffering from a front wing imbalance issue that has never been fully understood.
"We have yet to fully identify the route cause of the problem, so to give you a definitive answer is not easy. But from what I have seen, I don't think we can say hand on heart that we fully understood the problems we had at the start of the 2005 season, when we raised the front wing of the car.
"Although we improved the situation I don't think we even understand now how we did that. And if those kind of issues are coming back to bite us again it would not surprise us."
Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button finished 11th and 12th in the Malaysian Grand Prix after continuing to struggle with the handling of their car.
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