BAR chases speed and reliability

The third place that Button inherited after Ralf Schumacher was thrown out of the Canadian Grand Prix has also given the team a boost and more importantly brought it to within nine points of second-placed Renault in the constructors' championship.

"Despite the result, our performance in Canada wasn't as good as we expected," admitted Button, "and we have to look at the reasons why we weren't as quick as we should have been. We can't test before Indy so we don't have any changes to the car or engine - we'll just have to see what we can achieve on the engineering side. We should be quicker in the next race."

Sato too is upbeat about the performance he is likely to enjoy, but his priority is simply to get to the chequered flag. "I think we will have a good car balance in both low speed grip and long straight top speed," said the Japanese driver, "but we have to get on top of the engine problems which I have been having, and I really want to finish the race to achieve my targets."

Shuhei Nakamoto, engineering director of Honda Racing Development, is on the case: "We obviously have to resolve the problem that has caused our recent engine failures," he said. "Everybody is working very hard to find a solution in time for the Indianapolis race this weekend."

Indianapolis has the longest continuous full-throttle straight on the calendar, which means it's particularly tough on engines anyway, so the Honda and BAR engineers have a hard nut to crack.