03/10/2006
NEWS STORY
Speaking at a news conference ahead of this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, the penultimate round of the 2006 World Championship, Honda Racing's development president Yasuhiro Wada has said that the team has no plans to change its line up next season.
"We are planning to stick with the same two drivers next year," he said. "We don't plan any changes."
Looking ahead to this weekend's race, the last at the Honda-owned Suzuka track before the Grand Prix switches to the Toyota-owned facility at Mount Fuji, Wada said: "Jenson's victory in Hungary was obviously a highlight but apart from that, the feeling is that we have started operating at full capacity.
"I think after Hungary we have to aim higher than a podium," he added. "We should be looking to win races and hopefully we can start at Suzuka."
However, team boss Nick Fry is clearly aiming a little lower, and probably being a lot more realistic.
"I think for a team at our level the absolute minimum expectation is for both drivers to have points finishes," he said. "We've achieved that in the last four races. I think the completion of our new wind tunnel has helped us in the results.
"The drivers have worked extremely well together and I think our team will be extremely strong next season and beyond that."