Hayden: Honda must progress faster

But despite his frustration with the factory team's current situation, Hayden also hinted that his preference was to remain with the squad in 2008.

After struggling in the opening rounds, the American has regained ground in recent races and took his first podium of the season at Assen today.

Hayden has now been given the revised chassis that his teammate Dani Pedrosa received for the Italian Grand Prix, but wants the team to accelerate their development efforts.

"We're a lot closer now, but still it seems like out of corners we're not perfect," he said.

"It seems smoother and easier (for other bikes) to put the power down, probably easier on the tyres.

"I think the chassis is just a small part of it - it's the whole package.

"Sure the chassis helped, we saw that immediately when Dani got it at Mugello. But parts are actually coming slow.

"Now I want the chassis in this same direction and they say 'maybe at Brno', but that's not going to cut it, so we need to speed things up."

He believes that Pedrosa will still receive the upgrades first, even though Hayden finished ahead of the Spaniard in Holland.

"I don't think one race is going to change the pecking order," said Hayden.

"I need to get in front in the points. But I can't go over there and build parts, so I'll just do what I can with what I've got and see what it gets us."

The HRC bosses are attending this weekend's race, amid reports that both Pedrosa and Hayden are considering leaving the team.

Last season HRC president Takeo Fukui's visit to the Motegi round coincided with the resolution of Hayden's prolonged contract talks, and there has been speculation that his trip to Assen will see Repsol Honda's 2008 rider line-up finalised.

But Hayden said he had only spoken briefly with Fukui so far and did not have a meeting scheduled with the team boss.

"I just shook his hand, I haven't talked to him," he said.

"I saw him after the warm-up and I was in my leathers, talking to my guys, so we didn't talk business.

"I haven't set anything up, so I'm not sure."

He said he still had faith in Honda's capability.

"Honda's bike hasn't been great, but normally it doesn't stay bad long," Hayden said.

"That's why I wanted to be at Honda. That's what I thought last year with the contract - if you look over a ten year period, normally they're going to come up with the goods, so we'll see if they've got something."