Honda stregthen aero team

Honda team principal Nick Fry has confirmed that the hiring of Loic Bigois is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to strengthening the squad's aerodynamic department, with further experienced personnel set to move to the Brackley operation.

Fry confirmed the arrival of former Williams, Liger and Minardi aero man Bigois over the French Grand Prix weekend at Magny-Cours, but has since revealed that other new recruits had been added to the team prior to that.

"Prior to Loic being announced, we also hired another French guy, Francois Martinet, from Williams, and we've hired John Owen from BMW and one of the young McLaren aerodynamicists," he said.

"It's a concerted effort to improve our skills in that area because aerodynamics these days is 80 per cent of the performance and we simply weren't strong enough in that area."

Despite a strong end to the 2006 season, when Jenson Button scored more points than any other driver after breaking his duck in Hungary, Honda has struggled to sort this season's RA107.

The Briton only logging the team's first point at Magny-Cours - some eight races into the 2007 campaign - with aero problems often cited as the reason why various Honda F1 cars have made slow starts to the year.