Barrichello tells Honda to remain calm

On the back of a recent decline in form, which left Barrichello and teammate Jenson Button starting 13th and 17th in Magny-Cours last weekend, the Brazilian believes that anything other than a composed approach to solving their problems will be a disaster.

And he thinks the first thing that the team need to get a grasp of, if they are to work out why they are suddenly struggling for pace, is in understanding why they have been strong at some races this year.

At Indianapolis, for example, Barrichello and Button qualified fourth and seventh and it appeared that the team had started making progress - only for them to slip even further back in France.

Speaking to autosport.com, Barrichello claims that that looking for answers on what has happened so far this year, rather than making big staff changes to help the future, is what is needed now.

"Whenever we start getting the answers for why we go well and why we go bad, it is when we start going well," said Barrichello, who thinks that the team's fluctuating form is not helping them find the answers they need.

"If you don't know why you are going well, then you don't know why you are going bad.

"We don't have any explanation for why Indy was a better race. I feel we are going through an immense pressure right now and the decisions are being taken more rapidly - and I don't know if that is what we should be doing now.

"I just want it to be very steady, that is what I have been asking them, to keep our feet on the ground and go through the phase. We will get there, because we have competent people, we have competent sponsors and we have the ability to do it.

"We will do it, but we just have to go through this at the moment."

Barrichello and Button faced the nightmare scenario in France of having a car that felt relatively well balanced, but simply did not have the speed. Drivers find it easier to improve slow cars if they have bad handling characteristics to aim for.

"We just lacked grip, we were not lacking balance this time," added Barrichello. "It was a combination of things. I don't know if we can say the new aero package didn't do the job, it was just that the grip wasn't there."

For now, Barrichello believes it is vital the team break the cycle of relaxing a little once they enjoy a step forward in performance.

"We won't do well if we go back into the cycle of doing well, everyone breathing a little bit easier, and then not doing so well," he explained. "We cannot go back to doing that."