Honda braced for ‘challenging’ Canadian GP weekend

Honda's head of F1 project Yusuke Hasegawa expects this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix to be “challenging” given the power-sensitive nature of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

McLaren-Honda is coming off an encouraging double points finish in Monaco, though the Japanese manufacturer admitted afterwards they were happy with the results but not the performance.

With Honda still pondering the introduction of its first upgrade of the season in Canada, Hasegawa explains what makes the Montreal venue a test for the engine.

“The track is unforgiving, with its power-oriented nature, stop and start corners, abrasive surface and long straights,” he said.

“It’s a very different animal to Monaco, so it will be a challenging weekend for the team, but we will keep our heads down and focus on what we can do to bring out the best in our package.”

McLaren-Honda endured one of its toughest 2015 outings in Canada, with Jenson Button failing to take part in qualifying and Fernando Alonso annoyed to “look like an amateur driver” when told to save fuel during the race.

FEATURE: Six races in - 2015 v 2016 comparisons

Ziv Knoll's Indy 500 diary

Alex Wurz: Let's get back to extreme track designs

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