Fry rules out Honda win in Australia

Although their car seemed to lack outright pace during initial testing in Europe, Honda seemed to have made serious progress in Bahrain last week, and the team are optimistic they are now only behind the front-runners on long stints.

After setting unimpressive laptimes in Valencia, Jerez and Barcelona, the RA107 jumped to the top of the timesheets in Bahrain, with Jenson Button setting the third quickest time on two of the three test days. Team boss Nick Fry said this result reflected a true improvement, not just a change of approach.

"Yes, that was genuinely the case, because we took a deliberate decision this year which was very different from last year, to develop the car much more in the factory, much more in the wind tunnel," Fry told Hungarian website A5.hu during the launch of the dramatic new Honda livery, featuring only the image of the Earth, in London.

"Last year we came out in January with a very strong car, but we used all our energy doing that, so we didn't develop the car as well as we should have between January and March. This year we've taken a more considerate approach, and the main majority of the Melbourne aerodynamic parts didn't go on the car until Bahrain last week.

"And the effect you saw was instant. However, we still have some way to go. I would say on short runs the car at the moment is quite quick, however on long runs, which we need for good race performance, we are behind some of the other teams, probably by half a second."

Fry thinks Honda don't have to worry about qualifying pace, because their car is as quick as any of its rivals in terms of raw speed.

"On short stints the figures you saw last week for Jenson I think were genuine. On two of the three days in Bahrain his was the third fastest car, and that was with a good amount of fuel," Fry stated.

"So I am confident that if we want to, we can qualify our car higher up the grid. But Saturday is Saturday, and Sunday is the important day, and at the moment our longer run performance is not quick enough. So we are probably, as I've said, at least half a second short to the guy in front."

Although last year Honda was quick with their new car right from the start of testing, Fry added the lack of good times on European circuits this year was a result of a deliberate change in their approach, with the team concentrating more on long-run performance.

"Yeah, firstly, obviously, Sunday is the most important day, but this year is very different from previous years in that we are limited to 300 sets of tyres for testing purposes," he said.

"So whereas last year if we wanted to go quickly, it was easy just to put on new tyres, because we could have as many new tyres as we wanted, now it's impossible to do that, because you only have 300 sets. That's why most of the time we are running the car on used tyres, so it's a completely different situation."

Fry added he was still optimistic Honda could win more races this year after Button's dramatic victory at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix, but admitted that adapting to their radically new car, the RA107, could take time.

"This season clearly we want to do better than last year. Last year we won obviously one race, and came fourth in the championship, obviously in both respects we would like to do better," he said.

"At the moment I think we'll be in a position to score points in Melbourne, but I think as we develop through the year we should get into a position to win races, because the car has got the biggest step we have made in the past from one year to the next.

"That's taken a lot of work to sort out basic things like the balance of the car but the potential of what we have got is very good indeed. So I certainly expect to be able to win races this year."