Honda unveil RA 108

2007 saw Britain's Jenson Button and Brazilian veteran Rubens Barrichello struggle outside the top ten for most of the season, with Button only managing 15th in the championship and Barrichello failing to score for the first time in his 15-year career.

Yasuhiro Wada, the general manager of Honda Motorsports said: "2007 was very disappointing, but we have put that behind us now.

"It is not good to have a season like that, but I will only allow it to happen once."

The new car, which had its track debut at Valencia last week, keeps in line with its predecessor in having a livery based on Honda's 'Earth-dream' philosophy. The black base colour is now white, but the image of the earth is retained.

But the big changes have come in the aerodynamic department, which has seen a staff overhaul and a totally new wing package.

New team principal Ross Brawn, who was influential in steering Michael Schumacher to seven world titles with Benetton and Ferrari, said that this was the main area that needed improvement.

"Last year's car generated a lot of downforce," said Brawn. "The problem was it was very aggressive downforce, which meant it was pretty difficult for the drivers to drive the car.

"This year we've concentrated on making the downforce as useable as possible. Doing this will have all sorts of effects. The car will slide less, that will save tyres, and that makes a big difference."

Brawn also confirmed that the car will change considerably before the first race of the season in Australia.

The car will again be raced by Barrichello and Button, who, with 384 Grand Prix starts between them, are the most experienced paring in the sport.

They have a new test driver in the shape of Austrian veteran Alex Wurz, who will have his first run in the car in Spain this week and also confirmed that Luca Filippi and Britain's Mike Conway will also test sporadically this season.