Jenson Button has confirmed his belief that the
Honda team has closed the gap on its rivals after one final pre-Melbourne test, but refuses to get too excited about his prospects in the opening rounds of the new
Formula One season.
Speaking after Honda concluded its preparations for the start of the year at a private three-day test at
Jerez, Button claimed that aerodynamic and mechanical upgrades fitted to the RA108 had helped to ramp up the car's competitiveness, but urged caution among fans hoping that he and team-mate
Rubens Barrichello may suddenly find themselves in the thick of the midfield battle.
"Our final test went well, and it was very useful to evaluate the new developments that we have on the car," Button commented, "We completed some long run work in preparation for the race weekends and I was pleased that we have made a step forward in terms of performance. However, we are realistic about our expectations for the first few races and know that we still have a long way to go."
"Testing conditions were challenging, with strong and very gusty winds, but we are pleased with the progress that we made," engineer Steve Clark confirmed, "We signed off the specification of the RA108 for Melbourne, [and] it is clear that the new package is a good step forward, not just on a single lap but also over longer runs. Virtually all of the wings and bodywork components have been updated since the launch specification and to good effect, so we look forward to seeing how the package translates to the race track next weekend in Australia."
Barrichello and new test driver Alex Wurz both joined Button at the Spanish session, spending two days behind the wheel of the RA108 as the team focused on the evaluation of the new parts in order to confirm the final specification for the first three rounds in Australia, Malaysia and Bahrain, along with qualifying, race start and race procedures.
