Honda ‘realistic’ ahead of home race

Honda motorsport boss Yasuhisa Arai says the Japanese manufacturer remains “realistic” ahead of his home race at Suzuka, on the back of a very challenging return to F1.

Despite constant developments this year – Honda has already spent five of its nine engine tokens –, its horsepower deficit was still evident at fast venues like Spa-Francorchamps and Monza.

Although well familiar with the Honda-owned circuit's demanding layout, Arai hopes Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso can give the attending crowd something special to cheer for.

“It is a wonderful feeling to be back home and to be racing in front of our fans,” he said. “The fans are incredibly passionate and loyal to F1 and to Honda, so as the McLaren-Honda team, we will do our best this weekend.

“That said, Suzuka is a notoriously technical and difficult circuit for all cars and drivers. We have to be realistic that the race will be a big challenge for the team this weekend.

“Our engineers have started their preparations for the task ahead for what will hopefully be a good race.”

• Alonso: McLaren still in ‘winter testing’

Supplied team McLaren suffered its fourth double DNF of the season at Singapore last Sunday, with both drivers retiring because of similar overheating problems on their gearboxes.

While Alonso called the woes “normal” in the aftermath of the event, racing director Eric Boullier repeats that his team must get on top of all technical gremlins before it can make further headway towards the front.

“For McLaren, it’s extra-special, since it’s also the home of Honda, so returning there this year will be even more emotional than normal”, said the Frenchman.

“First and foremost, to give ourselves any kind of fighting chance next weekend we must focus on our reliability after the disappointment in Singapore.”

“From Marina Bay, one of the lowest-speed tracks on the calendar, we go to Suzuka, one of the fastest, so preparation will be key.”

Singapore Grand Prix - Quotes of the weekend

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter