Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko believes Honda has an unfair reputation in Formula 1 after Fernando Alonso "did everything he could" to tarnish the engine supplier.
During the three seasons which McLaren and the Japanese manufacturer re-collaborated, the double world champion became known for his controversial radio messages and remarks about the engine, as it struggled for both reliability and performance.
Now that junior team Toro Rosso are working with Honda, however, Marko has remained largely positive about their potential, floating the prospect of the main Red Bull team also using their engines from 2019.
"Honda is very active and has already found something," the Austrian claimed, "Perhaps they will manage to be on Renault's level with their second engine (specification)."
The head of Red Bull's young driver academy also suggested the British team didn't particularly help their engine supplier.
"Honda had to compromise because of the McLaren chassis and were not able to develop freely and Alonso did everything he could to make the engine look bad," he stated.
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Now McLaren will be using the same Renault engines as Red Bull in 2018 and the Woking outfit has been touting the potential to challenge for race wins this season.
For all his negativity about Honda, Alonso is much happier now he is back working with the company he twice drove for.
"We are very confident," he was quoted by ESPN. "I think at McLaren we have made a few changes for this year, the most obvious being the power unit with the Renault, which I think is quite a high motivation now in the team.
"The mood for all of us is quite different this year compared to the last three years. We always had expectations that the season could be a good one for us but I think this year we have more facts than any previous years, that they were only hopes. This year we have more numbers that we can touch, finally."
