Following a disappointing showing in Turkey Honda believe they can once again target points this weekend, the upgraded RA108 showing the kind of pace it had in Barcelona when Jenson Button scored the team’s first championship points of the year.

Honda have announced that the Nippon Oil Corporation (NOC) will continue to sponsor the Formula One team through the 2008 season.

The continued agreement sees NOC supplying ENEOS lubricants to the Honda F1 team and the ENEOS logo will feature predominantly on the drivers’ and team mechanics’ race suits.

The Honda Racing F1 team official launched their 2008 car, the RA108, at their headquarters in Brackley this morning.

The RA108 was first seen shaking down at Valencia last week, although it was sporting a white interim livery. The car will be driven for the third season by Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello and the team are hoping that this continuity will help them achieve better results this season.

Money doesn’t buy you happiness, nor does it buy you success as Honda have been quick to realise this season.

The arrival of former Ferrari Technical Director Ross Brawn to the struggling Brackley based team, along with a series of other high profile appointments, illustrates Honda’s new found commitment to long term capacity building as well as continuing to throw money at research and development. But patience will also be required if Honda are to return to winning ways.

Ross Brawn, who recently returned to Formula One after a sabbatical year, has revealed his first impressions after a week of his new job at Honda have been positive – in particular, he has been encouraged by the staff morale and the team’s resources.

Rubens Barrichello has admitted to being bitterly disappointed at being unable to achieve a good result at the Nurburgring last weekend.

Barrichello is widely known as a wet weather specialist; he was disappointed that in a very wet race, he was unable to score any points. Barrichellos’ car was damaged at the start of the race after he made contact with the Williams of Nico Rosberg, causing poor handling for the remainder of the race.

Honda have confirmed that for the third season in a row, both Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello will be racing for the team. Barrichello has had his contract extended to the end of the 2008 season; Jenson Button has already signed a multi-year deal with Honda. Button has been with the Japanese team since 2003, whilst Barrichello joined in 2006 having previously been with Ferrari.

It has emerged that Gil de Ferran, a former Indianapolis 500 winner, has quit Honda. De Ferran joined Honda in 2005, a year in which Honda turned around their fortunes with Jenson Button finishing third in both Germany and Belgium, and finishing the season sixth in the constructors’ championship. 2006 saw Button win his first race in Hungary.

Honda’s B-spec RA107 car appears to be significantly faster and is now supposedly a full second faster than the other Honda powered team, Super Aguri.

According to Austrian newspaper Osterreich, Honda are planning to keep their driver line-up of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello for the 2008 season despite neither driver managing to pick up a single point so far this year.