Rubens Barrichello has cautiously assessed Honda’s new car for 2008, the RA108, as better than its abysmal predecessor.
The Brazilian veteran gave the unliveried single seater its track debut at Valencia on Wednesday, languishing at the bottom of the time sheets with a best lap some 3.5 seconds shy of the pace.
A day later, in teammate Jenson Button’s hands, the RA108 was nearly a second quicker, but still outpaced by every rival team at the Spanish group test.
“I’m certain that this car is better than the 2007 one because it’s difficult to do worse,” Barrichello, 35, told the Italian magazine La Gazzetta dello Sport after trying the car for the first time.
“Lap times were slow but also because on the first day it made no sense to push too hard,” he added.
“In any case we are awaiting the new aerodynamics,” Barrichello said.
He also explained that the Brackley based team experienced normal shakedown gremlins with the new car, but confirmed that the RA108 already feels better than its predecessor under braking.
