Honda motorsport chief Yasuhisa Arai says the new power unit in the McLaren is “not mature” at this stage of testing.
While Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault have all had a year’s experience with the current power units, Honda is working with its first version of the V6 turbo this season. Speaking during an exclusive interview with F1i, Arai concedes the level of maturity is something that Honda needs to try and increase quickly.
Asked what he wants to improve regarding the power unit, Arai replied: “It’s not mature right now.
“We have to put in the effort in less than three weeks so we have to catch up in terms of maturity for the actual race.”
However, Arai is very confident in the layout of the power unit having been able to work with just one team during development.
“We have a good relationship with the way we work with McLaren. It’s a very tiny layout which was very difficult but we achieved it. That’s one very good area of competitiveness we have.”
Exclusive interview with Honda's Yasuhisa Arai
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