Honda targeting European revival

The Japanese squad have endured a torrid start to the 2007 season, with the RA107 not proving competitive enough to be near the front of the field.

Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button struggled at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, with the Brazilian coming home in 11th position while the Briton could do no better than 15th.

But with Honda still working on finding the source of their problems, team boss Nick Fry says only by the Spanish Grand Prix in May the team will take a significant step forward.

"I think we have to set ourselves the target of being up there with Renault and BMW by the start of the European season," said Fry.

"Last year it basically took us until the halfway point to sort ourselves out, and there is no excuse for us not to be much closer by the time we get to Europe."

Honda will introduce several new parts in their car in the next race in Malaysia, and although Fry expects the team to move forward in Sepang, he is staying cautious on making any predictions.

"I do expect a leap forward, but we need to fully understand what the problem is," Fry added.

"And really for the last two years, because we have had intermittent problems, we are not really understanding the fundamental issue and that is something we really need to come to terms with.

"Maybe the parts we have for Sepang will address the issue, or maybe they won't. I would not be able to say hand on heart that we fully understand what the issues are with the car at the moment, and that is what we have got to do." 

He added: "Now we have a proper wind tunnel our expectation is that we can fix it a lot quicker than we did last year. This is a much weaker start than we anticipated, but we are not downhearted by it and we have got three weeks to get back in the race."

Honda finished in fourth place last season, scoring their first victory since taking over the BAR team.