Barrichello encouraged by Honda updates

Rubens Barrichello is hopeful he can end his and Honda's win and point drought in Spain next week after being “encouraged" by Honda’s RA108 updates in testing.

"We had a very busy and successful test this week," he said.

“We ran our new aero upgrade for the first time and I'm encouraged by the performance.

“I felt a definite improvement, although the windy conditions made it difficult to quantify how much.

“We covered some good mileage and a lot of test items, particularly on Thursday when I completed 140 laps.

“Overall I have good reason to be positive for the Spanish Grand Prix and I hope that we can get into the points there."

Barrichello made a rare appearance at the head of the timesheet on his second day in the car after trying out the 2009-spec slick tires.

“On Wednesday, I had a good day evaluating the slick tires and we were able to make some improvements to our set-up," he added.

“It was nice to finish at the top of the timesheet, although it does not have too great a significance when only half of the field were running slicks."