Testing prior to the French Grand Prix at
Jerez was intended to iron out some of these issues, something that
Mark Webber insists need to help get them back up the grid after a difficult few races.
"It's good to be back in Europe on terra firma after the two recent fly-away races. Clearly it's a very difficult time for us at the moment as we're not demonstrating the kind of form we want and we need to address this by getting some pace back into the car.
"We will have some different parts on the car to help breach the gap to our opposition but, traditionally, most of the teams use the French Grand Prix as an upgrade point in the season, so it's important we make significant gains. I hope Alex's running is straightforward on Friday in order to give us a strong base for Sunday afternoon."
After a disappointing United States Grand Prix that saw him well off the pace on a circuit he does not know,
Nico Rosberg will be relishing a return to Europe and crucially the circuit at which he claimed his maiden GP2 win on the way to a dominant second half of the season.
It is this success that he hopes will allow him to prove more competitive at Magny-Cours than he has of late.
"I like the track at Magny-Cours," the German said. "I won the GP2 race there last year, my first win of the season and the start of a great year for me. I wasn't at the test last week, but I know that the team has been working really hard on improving our aero package recently. We'll be using the
Silverstone aero package for this forthcoming race which, I believe, will improve our pace relative to that seen in America. I enjoyed the trip to the States a lot, but it's now nice to be back in Europe."
Honda Racing F1 - Rubens Barrichello (#11), Jenson Button (#12):
Honda were back in the points in the United States, although
Rubens Barrichello's sixth place was staunch reward for their fourth and seventh on the grid in a race that saw just nine finish the race.
