Brawn has faith in Barrichello

Barrichello failed to score a world championship point last year and rumours since the season finale in Brazil have suggested that the team are questioning whether to continue with him or not.

Last week a German newspaper report suggested that Barrichello was about to be moved sideways to Super Aguri to make way for Fernando Alonso.

But Brawn has rubbished such talk and made it clear that he has full faith in both Barrichello and Jenson Button - and he says the main issue for the team at the moment does not revolve around the strength of their drivers.

"Rubens has one year remaining of his contract," said Brawn in an interview with the official Formula One website. "I think the past year was very difficult to judge either driver because of the problems with the car.

"Personally I think there is no reason not to continue with them (Barrichello and Button) as both have proven that they can win races and they are both on very high standards.

"I don't have any concerns about the drivers. There are much bigger challenges for the team overall and for me than the drivers.

"I am very much looking forward to working with Jenson. I have never worked with him before. He always impressed me from a distance, and he has a nice reputation in the team. The people like him here. So it is up to us to provide both drivers with adequate material."

Brawn made his first public appearance in his new role at Honda Racing at Sunday night's Autosport Awards, and he is due to attend this week's F1 test at Jerez in Spain.

Having only just started work at Honda last week, Brawn says he has been impressed with his early impressions.

"I had some expectations, or rather some hopes, of what I would find at Honda when I was discussing my move with the Honda executives and (team CEO) Nick Fry," he explained.

"They gave me a picture of the situation and I must say that what I found here is even better than they described. I am very happy about what I have discovered in my first week at Honda.

"For sure there is a huge challenge in front of all of us, but all the resources, all the tools are in place and the people are incredibly enthusiastic and committed to try and succeed in the future.

"Even with all the tools, the most important thing you have in a team are the people. I came here and found people who are very keen and very ambitious for the future.

"Their enthusiasm was almost palpable. I did not have to face a demoralised workforce - that would have been disappointing."