Pierre Gasly isn’t expecting a significant boost from Honda as they introduce a ‘Spec-3’ engine at the French Grand Prix.
On Wednesday, the Japanese manufacturer confirmed both Red Bull drivers and Daniil Kvyat would be receiving the update, with the Russian set to serve a grid penalty as a result.
But while it is known that improving performance is the main focus with the third unit, Gasly doesn’t believe it will have a major impact on the pecking order.
“I think the overall performance will be slightly increased but it’s not like it’s going to change massively – or catch the teams ahead of us massively,” he said ahead of his home race.
“So let’s see what we can do during the weekend but it should give us a bit more in the race but it’s not going to be massively different in qualifying.”
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That being said, the 23-year-old does hope to be more competitive than he was in Canada – when a disappointing race left him in eighth.
“I think it’s a track that probably suits our package a bit more than Canada,” Gasly stated.
“You still have many long straights, which unfortunately are still a bit tricky for us, even though we are making progress.
“But I think we have new little bits on the car coming and I think we should be more competitive here than we were in Canada.”
As for teammate Max Verstappen, he has been more positive about the Honda project than he was certainly last year with Renault.
However, speaking to his personal website, the Dutchman did suggest the power deficit was still pretty significant.
“In terms of the power unit, there are still steps to be made to catch up to mostly Ferrari,” he explained.
“We have a better chassis than them, but if you lose a second on the straight it’s tough. I think Mercedes is much better than everybody anticipated.”
