Panis admits his McLaren days will help BAR

Speaking at Honda's Formula 1 launch in Tokyo on Monday, Panis - who hasn't raced for a whole season - admitted that he can implement lessons learnt with the former World Champions to boost BAR's quest for its first F1 win in 2001.

"Last year I'm sure I learned a lot because I drove the best car and I have some ideas to help prepare the team with the experience of last year," he said. "I'm sure I know the way to improve the car for this season and it's still a little secret but, yeah, it's a very good way to improve the team."

In particular, the Frenchman says that Honda's RA001E unit already compares favourably to last year's Mercedes, regarded as one of the best engines in F1.

"It's quite difficult to compare things but I have some comparisons on the engine side," he added. "The Honda engine is very easy to drive but it's a very good engine. The middle range is quite good to be honest compared with the Mercedes engine.

"I'm very positive about the engine. Although it's easy to drive, we need to try to improve it during the season. I'm very confident with all the people, they have worked hard for this season. I'm very pleased to work with Honda people, I'm very confident. Honda people know the targets and I'm working very hard for that."

New team mate Jacques Villeneuve is also upbeat about his chances in this weekend's Australian Grand Prix thanks to the effort put in by Honda engineers over the winter, this despite criticisms of the 003 chassis over the winter after he felt it was "too slow".

Villeneuve, who stays on for a third year with BAR, its second with works Honda powerplants, believes the team has a solid platform from which to challenge Formula 1 big guns Ferrari and McLaren. The Canadian is pinning his Melbourne hopes on a new version of Honda's engine this weekend.

"We have a new engine for the first race which we haven't tested so we don't know how much difference that will make," he said. "But at least the engine is reliable so we should finish the race. Last year there was a new engine and new working relationships for everybody, so that took a little bit of time to adjust. This year is a continuation of that, so I think we are better prepared. We need to get podiums and hopefully fight for wins."