Having denied reports that Honda is attempting to recruit Ross Brawn, team boss Nick Fry also played down talk that the Brackley outfit intends building a new car to replace the RA107.

"I think it depends on what you mean by a new car," he said, when asked about some of the reports which have appeared in the media this week. "There are large parts of the car where we don't have any specially identified problem. The gearbox seems to work, the engine - with the exception of this afternoon - has been pretty reliable, the main part of the monocoque, albeit that we may have to alter things to make some changes to the aerodynamic shape. As far as we can tell, the rear suspension seems perfectly okay.

"We are going to have to change a reasonable amount," he admitted. "I wouldn't call it a new car but it's not going to be insubstantial either."

Asked to explain what the problem is with the RA107, the Englishman explained: "It's not really one thing unfortunately. The car is just short of grip. It's principally an aerodynamic issue although there are some mechanical changes we also want to make.

"We will make some changes at Barcelona," he continued, "principally a large number of aerodynamic parts. There will be more for Canada and we are in the process of testing those in the wind tunnel and elsewhere. There will be more after that, probably in Magny-Cours.

"I think it's just going to be a series of rolling changes, if you like, rather than one change which is going to fix the problem."