Honda duo unsure on car's competitiveness

Honda Racing duo Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello are unsure how competitive their new car will be when the season kicks off in Melbourne next weekend.

The RA108 has failed to shine in preseason testing, but an updated aerodynamic package tried out in Jerez last week was believed to have delivered a step forward in pace.

However, neither Button nor Barrichello are making any bold predictions as the team bid to erase the memories of a troubled 2007 campaign.

Speaking about Honda's 2008 challenger, Button said: "It's a very driveable car, which gives us a good basis to build on. It still lacks a bit of speed, but we've made improvements at every test in many areas and I'm confident that this level of development can continue throughout the year."

Barrichello added: "The mid-field is going to be very close this year, so we could see an interesting battle. It's almost impossible to say where we'll end up in Melbourne because the lap times will be close. So it's a case of wait and see."

Even though the RA108 has not appeared to deliver the speed that Honda need to return to the winners' circle, team principal Ross Brawn is adamant that the outfit have what is needed to deliver improved results.

"We have a very talented group of people in the team, whose collective expertise is good enough to succeed in Formula One and I have every faith that we will," he said. "For now though we must continue to take it one step at a time and our first goal is to improve the RA108 at every race.

"We've made steady progress with the RA108 since its launch at the end of January. Practically all of the aerodynamic and mechanical parts have been updated and when we ran our Melbourne-spec package for the first time last week, we saw some positive changes to the performance of the car.

"We now have to see what that improvement equates to on the race track and relative to the competition."