Honda driver Rubens Barrichello has backed team boss Nick Fry’s claim that the Japanese squad can soon catch up with its rivals in 2007.
Although dismissed as fanciful by some observers, Honda principal Fry proclaimed after the team’s dismal showing in Australia that the RA107 car can be “up there with Renault and BMW” in less than one month.
Brazil’s Barrichello failed to make it through the first fifteen minutes of qualifying at Albert Park, and both he and teammate Jenson Button were lapped in the race.
Sources have pointed out the Brackley-built car’s badly flawed front aerodynamics, but Barrichello backed Fry’s suggestion that the problem is fixable.
He told the April edition of British magazine F1 Racing: “I know for a fact actually that this Honda isn’t bad.
“It’ll become competitive. This team have everything to be able to solve the problems, and even build a new car if that’s what it takes.
“But I don’t think we’re in that situation.”
Barrichello tested several new parts at Sepang on Tuesday and was fourth quickest of the ten runners in action.
