Button fears for tyre performance

The British ace feels that BAR-Honda has failed to live to its early season promise because its Bridgestone tyres are currently no match for its rivals who are running on Michelins.

"In the last couple of races we don't have the pace any more and I think quite a bit of that is down to the tyres," he said. "I hope we are not going the wrong way on tyres. We are working as hard as we can with Bridgestone to move forwards, but it is happening slowly at the moment."

Button will however have a heavily-revised car at his disposal and will be hoping that this, along with an intensive tyre test at Barcelona last week may help to reduce the performance defecit.

"Silverstone is definitely one of my favourite tracks," he said. "We've had a positive test in Barcelona and it looks like we've made a good step forward with the developments we are introducing this weekend.

BAR-Honda team principal is equally hopeful that the revisions to the BAR 005 will make an impact on the current pecking order.

"Silverstone falls soon after the mid-point of the season, which is when we take stock of our performance and begin to implement our most substantial development upgrades," said Richards. "This year is no exception and we go to our home circuit with a new aerodynamics package and a significant new engine development.

"Consequently, we expect to see a step up in performance and, after some difficult times in the last three or four races, I hope that we can regain some of the form we demonstrated earlier in the season.

Technical director Geoffrey Willis explained the developments: "We will introduce a substantial chassis and engine upgrade for this race, featuring a number of new elements. The car will look very different, with its new bodywork and roll-hoop, whilst under the skin there have been further engine and mechanical developments.

"We regard this as a good step forward and we anticipate a more positive weekend than we have experienced of late."