Japan Friday quotes: Honda

"As for the circuit, I was really pleased with the flow and there are some tight challenging corners towards the end of the lap and a couple of potential overtaking places, so generally I was impressed."

Rubens Barrichello - 17th: "I have the same problem here as I had in Spa and the car is running short on aero balance. I just don't have the grip level and the balance that I would like, so we changed some parts on the car this afternoon to see if this helps with the issue.

"We have a lot of data to look at overnight to try to make some improvements for the morning. I like the circuit here, the only issue is that there are some blind corners so the marshals will need to react quickly with the yellow flags as you are not able to see when coming round some corners, which is what happened when I hit Yamamoto."

Jacky Eeckelaert - Engineering Director: "This morning, as is usual with a new track, we checked the required downforce level for the Fuji layout and it matches the prediction of our simulation programme. Both drivers worked to find a good balance on the car before we completed our race preparation in the second session with both prime and option tyres.

"Jenson is reasonably happy with the long run pace but we lack some performance on the first lap with new tyres. Rubens had some problems in the afternoon with braking stability. We are still investigating the issue and will make the necessary changes to find a solution for tomorrow."