Brawn: Honda priority is still 2009

Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello have delivered some promising performances in the first two races of the year. And, with a host of improvements set to come on board in the next few races, hopes are high of a big step forward in pace.

But despite the temptation to put resources into improving the current car to make it even more competitive over the year, Brawn is adamant that the team will still be better off focusing everything onto their 2009 car.

"I can see in some team areas where we can improve the car," said Brawn about his early season impressions. "You can watch on the circuit that the ride quality of the car is not very good. It is not riding the bumps very well, so there are things like that that we need to improve.

"On the aero side, it is progressing very well. Chassis side we need to make stronger, but everyone is very open and positive about improving the situation.

"I need a few more races to understand where we are, but we are certainly a lot better than we were in winter testing. And looking at what's coming along, there are some quite exciting steps in the future.

"But I will caution all that by saying we will be very conscious of what we need to do for 2009. That is really a big opportunity for us."

Brawn said at the moment the team had enough resources to work on both their 2008 and 2009 projects, but felt within the next few months a decision would have to be taken about whether or not to make 2009 a priority.

"The 2009 programme has started and it is having more and more resources put onto that programme. We haven't had any conflicts of resources at the moment, but we will in the next few months for sure.

"I think when we see the conflict of resource then we will have to make a decision in which way we call it. Generally it will come in favour of the 2009 programme because that is our future and there are limitations with what we can do with this car."