Honda confident after new engine debut

The team delayed introducing the revised power-unit, which delivers much-improved driveability, at the Italian Grand Prix in September after Anthony Davidson suffered two spectacular blow-ups in Friday practice.

That decision left Honda with only one chance for the engine to complete the necessary two races it must do for it to be homologated as the power-unit the team will use for the next two years.

The first of those two races passed by without trouble in Japan and the team now need to get either Jenson Button or Rubens Barrichello through the entire Brazilian Grand Prix weekend for the engine to get the green light for 2007.

And the team's hopes of doing that have been boosted by the fact that both drivers were able to run with reduced revs for the closing stages of the Japanese GP.

Team boss Nick Fry told autosport.com: "We had no problems at all. With Rubens we had the chance to turn down his engine very appreciably, and with Jenson's, when we saw McLaren turn down their engine, we did the same.

"We actually managed to turn Jenson's revs down quite a lot over the last laps, so I think we are going into Brazil in pretty good shape."

If neither engine makes it through Brazil, then the team will be forced to lodge the previous specification engine that completed its cycle at the Chinese GP.