Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsHonda

Honda still chasing end of straight speed

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Honda's primary focus in 2016 is to improve its end of straight speed in order to be more competitive.

Jenson Button said McLaren can be "really proud" of the progress it showed in Bahrain last weekend, with the car competitive on a circuit which puts an emphasis on power unit performance. However, Honda suffered a problem with its power unit which forced Button to retire, with reliability remaining a concern.

Honda's head of F1 project Yusuke Hasegawa says the core aspects of the power unit remain as the key areas for improvement.

Asked where the biggest gains will be for Honda this year, Hasegawa replied: "Engine power.

"Engine combustion, we have to improve that. Still we have a lack of end of straight speed, so it is everything."

While highlighting where improvements can be made, Hasegawa says he is encouraged by the progress shown by Honda so far this season.

"It is very difficult to tell but we concentrated on reliability first and I think we improved the reliability areas, although we had issues [in Bahrain].

"Now [we will focus] on the internal combustion performance - power - and we knew that the current power isn’t good enough to get a Q3 position. So that’s what I can tell … I think the current performance is reasonable."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.