Honda look to suspension to move forward

Honda will try a new rear suspension at this week's test at Jerez, hoping that it will allow them to improve their car's handling.

The RA108 has proven uncompetitive on dry tracks this season, and the team are already working on solving their problems for 2009.

With that in mind, Honda will introduce a new suspension in the test that begins today in Spain.

"This test we do will be quite interesting because we have a different rear suspension," Brawn told autosport.com.

"I think it will be quite interesting to see if we change some of the fundamental behaviour of the car, and those sort of characteristics.

Brawn said the design of the new suspension had 2009 in mind, as he reckons it is one of their weaks areas.

"We felt from a fairly early stage that it is not a strong area of the current car," he added.

"So we wanted to improve it. It was good for me to give our design team a strong challenge before we got into the new car. So it is good for me to see how the people are working.

"It's basically the same gearbox, but there are some modifications, and a new rear suspension. And a new aero package to go around that suspension.

"It is a good challenge for everyone. Addressing some of what I feel are the weaknesses of the current car, unfortunately not all of them because there is a limitation to what we could do using the existing gearbox.

"The new car because it is a clean sheet of paper, we will be able to start with some different fundamentals. But it will be interesting to see how it performs."