Honda says its improved reliability has greatly reduced the manufacturer's need to spend time on "clean-up" issues, allowing it to focus instead on performance gains.
After several dismal seasons of struggling to get a hold on F1's hybrid technology, Honda started to make significant strides last year when it partnered with Toro Rosso, a precursor to supplying sister outfit Red Bull Racing.
Reliability gains were followed by performance enhancements, delivering three wins to Honda in 2019, milestones which consigned to the past its fastidious and time-consuming troubles.
"I believe we have learned what is a priority for qualifying, or how to win the race," Honda F1 technical director Toyoharu Tanabe told Motorsport.com.
"I'm asking Sakura on the Japan side to focus on some key points to improve. We learned a lot.
"On the other hand, reliability is not perfect enough this year, but our reliability is getting much better since last year. It means we can develop positive items, not a countermeasure test or bench test.
"We spent a lot of time on something that was a clean-up test [before].
"Now we can put more time to improve our performance. Then we can think about the more detail with each area.
"I want to keep this momentum for next year. We need to push more to achieve our goal [of fighting for the championship]."
Honda's growth and advancements has allowed to comply with the demanding targets set by Red Bull which in turn has boosted the confidence between the two partners.
"We have regular meetings with Red Bull, Christian [Horner] and Helmut [Marko], myself and [Sakura R&D chief Yasuaki] Asaki-san," Honda F1 boss Masashi Yamamoto told Autosport.
"There we share our plans and the current situation as well, they share their plan and current position.
"The fact it is almost on the schedule as planned is very important because we have mutual trust in each other, which makes the relationship stronger.
"We are really looking forward to next year."
Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
Sebastian Montoya, the 19-year-old son of former Formula 1 star Juan Pablo Montoya, is set…
When former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto took on the role of Chief Operating Officer…
Charles Leclerc concluded the 2024 F1 season with a sense of satisfaction, the Ferrari driver…
Former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard has voiced his dismay at FIA president Mohammed Ben…
Super Aguri's application to join Formula 1 became a reality on this day in 2005,…
Ferrari roared back into contention in 2024 to deliver their strongest season in years, thanks…