25/04/2007
NEWS STORY
It seems Helios is not alone in blaming Honda's new wind tunnel for much of what is wrong with the RA107. Writing on his website, Rubens Barrichello confesses that he too believes the wind tunnel is responsible.
"There is no doubt that we are going through a bad phase," writes the Brazilian, "but as I had already mentioned, it is a hardworking period and there is no point in wasting energy with unimportant things. What we need right now is a solution.
"In order for you to understand what is happening, I need to say that the car has improved a lot in the wind tunnel, but this improvement still hasn't taken place on the track.
"We have two hypotheses," he admits, "either the tunnel is not producing the correct results or when the parts are produced they do not come out right. The problem with the car is that it has an aerodynamic drag, which means that it does not go fast on the straight and there is no stability when I step on the brakes."
The Brazilian admits that he hopes next week's test at Barcelona will see a marked improvement, though few others are confident.
Meanwhile, we hear that that behind the scenes the sideways shuffles that Helios referred to include Engineering Director Jacky Eeckelaert and Chief Race Engineer Craig Wilson.
Honda has yet to make any announcements regarding restructuring - sideways or otherwise - but it is only a matter of time.