Honda wants input from personnel to improve operations

Honda has sought input from its trackside engineers and the mechanics working on both of its customer teams to help improve its operations next year.

As a supplier to Red Bull Racing and sister team Toro Rosso, the Japanese manufacturer made spectacular progress over the 2019 season, elevating the performance and reliability of its power unit to levels comparable with those of its Ferrari and Mercedes rivals.

However, ramping up its supply deal in F1 from one team to two required the deployment of additional resources and operational changes.

• Honda sees big performance step 'difficult' in the future

Regarding the latter, Honda tech boss Toyoharu Tanabe believes improvements can be achieved for 2020, and the Japanese engineer is relying on his personnel for feedback.

"It was challenging, of course," Tanabe told Motorsport.com. "More staff here, more engines here. So far everything went reasonably well for both teams.

"I asked the engineers and the mechanics here, 'What can we do for next year? Please review what we did this year. What was a concern, what was a problem, in terms of the trackside management?'.

"Then we can make a list, discuss it internally, discuss with the R&D department, and then bring the idea for next year."

While Toro Rosso served as a veritable development laboratory for Red Bull in 2018, allowing the Milton Keynes-based outfit to deliver three wins to itself and Honda this season, Tanabe-san insists that both are now treated equally in terms of engine development and allocated resources.

"We support the two teams equally – engine specification, the number of engineers and mechanics, the scale, all equal," he said.

"When we started this year, we mixed the people [from 2018] and then brought extra support to make the same [level in both teams].

"We’ll keep the same style, for next year and always."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

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