Fry defends Honda's strategy

With McLaren and Renault clearly believing that a two-stop strategy is the best way to go, the two teams are adamant that their choices will be vindicated in the race.

However, Fry believes that Honda are actually better off by being at the front of the field because it is so difficult to overtake around Imola.

"This result is very pleasing and we are just working as hard as we possibly can," explained Fry. 

"Jenson (Button) and Rubens (Barrichello) did an absolutely superb job and with this race it is difficult to overtake, so going off the front is clearly an advantage. I would much prefer to be up there than further back."

Honda are obviously hoping that the tyre warm-up issues that marred their performance in the Australian Grand Prix will not cost them this time out.

"We are learning the whole time. At (testing in) Vallelunga and Barcelona we learned a lot about how to warm the tyres up and although we have still got a lot to learn, as we are a relatively young team, at every test we learn a little bit more."

Fry claims that the pressure put on the team after the heartbreak in Melbourne did actually prove to be a benefit - because it meant they could focus on the issues they were suffering from.

"It is all part of the growing phase," he said. "When things go wrong the challenge is to keep your spirits up and to look for solutions. You then learn something that can benefit you for the future.

"And after the race in Australia we sat down to go through the issues we had had and we were still there at 1.30 in the morning, with myself and Geoff Willis (technical director) and input from the drivers. So we spent half the night working through.

"When you have that type of pressure then it does you good. And I think we are in a better position today than we were then."