Honda bullish over car breakthrough

The team have spent recent weeks trying to get to the bottom of why their car is so quick in qualifying but does not have race pace to match. And it appears that that work during tests, allied to the varying form of leading teams in recent races, has left to the team feeling they may have finally got the answer to their problems.

In particular, the fact that McLaren finished just behind Ferrari and Renault at the European Grand Prix but then were well off the two teams' pace in Barcelona last weekend has pointed towards the fact that tyre suitability to a chassis is playing a key role in the fight at the front.

Honda Racing technical director Geoff Willis believes he has seen enough in the performance of his and other teams in recent weeks to feel that his team are on the verge of finally getting on top of the situation.

"We are building up a big jigsaw with lots of parts in it," he told autosport.com. "But there is a clear picture coming, which I cannot share with you, that some teams are aware of and most are not.

"We are beginning to have a much better understanding and we have now got to turn that theory into practice, with some different bits on the car."

When asked whether he could be more specific about what area these improvements were coming from, Willis said: "It is just generically performance related, in how you get the best out of the tyres, the aerodynamics and the car set-up."

Willis has also suggested that the team may also pursue a more aggressive approach to the flexibility of their rear wings in a bid to close down the straight-line speed gap to Ferrari.

Honda Racing recently asked for clarification from the FIA about how far teams were allowed to push flexi-wings, after suspecting that Ferrari may be enjoying a benefit.

"All the teams are going to have to adopt the same set of interpretation of rules if they are going to be competitive," explained Willis.

"I really don't know whether other teams have got to do anything different, but clearly Renault and Ferrari are very competitive and if everybody wants to catch up with them then they are going to have to catch up quickly."