BAR Hope for Indy Breakthrough

Honda-powered BAR were a revelation last year, ending as Championship runners-up to Ferrari, and they took third place at the Indianapolis Grand Prix with Japan's Takuma Sato.

This season they have been utterly eclipsed in a nightmare sequence of races.

"This has been a hard year for us, we've made it hard for ourselves in some areas, but that's part of the challenge," said technical director Geoff Willis.

"From a Championship position there's only a limit to what we can do this year ... but there's nothing to stop us improving the car still further and going out and winning races.

"We will get on top of the problems, we will solve them."

Off the pace in Australia, BAR suffered double retirements in Malaysia and Bahrain and were disqualified in San Marino for having an underweight car that led to a two-race suspension.

Their return at the Nurburgring two weeks ago was a disappointment but Jenson Button's surprise pole position in Canada revived morale before the Briton hit the notorious 'Wall of Champions' during the race.

Without that misfortune, Button might have made the podium. Ahead of the Indianapolis race on Sunday, however, BAR are yet to score their first point.

"We're just going to put the bits back together again, get the cars right and go out and try again at Indianapolis just as hard," said Willis.

"I think the car is now performing a lot better. We had a new aerodynamic package, partly specifically for Montreal and also parts that you'll see carrying on for the next few races.

"We're making good improvements and I think we'll go to Indy with a lot better understanding of the car and a lot of confidence in how it's working.

"I think we've come away (from Canada) with a number of positive things," said Willis. "We were certainly very competitive during the race. I think we'll be as strong in Indianapolis.

"I see no reason why we can't take our new burst of form and do something with it at Indy. We'll just keep going until we get it right."