Honda’s Rubens Barrichello has revealed that the Japanese team’s poor performance this season may have stemmed from an incorrectly calibrated wind tunnel. Barrichello, who is yet to score a point in 2007, is hopeful that the squad will see better results within the next month.
The Brazilian recently visited Honda’s UK headquarters in Brackley and met up with new technical signings, ex-Williams chief aerodynamicist Loic Bigois and former BMW Sauber employee John Owen. The pair admitted to Barrichello that they suspected errors in the tunnel's set-up could be largely to blame for the RA107’s lack of pace.
“They believe that our wind tunnel’s calibration is wrong and because of that everything that has been developed has not been effective,” explained Barrichello on his official website. “We will have to change many things, even parts of the structure inside the wind tunnel, and it will be about a month until we are able to see changes.”
Barrichello's factory visit came shortly before he endured his toughest race yet for Honda at the recent Hungarian Grand Prix, where the 35 year-old finished 18th and last behind the Spyker of Adrian Sutil. However, with a solution now in sight, he is optimistic that an upswing in performance is on the cards for this season and the next.
“The best thing is that for us to be sure that next year’s car will be good we need to change this year’s car to know if the changes are going in the right direction,” he added. “I’m sure they are, they have to be!”
Honda have scored just one point this season and are currently ninth in the standings, behind the Honda-engined Super Aguri team.