Honda’s pace of development has only increased since teaming up with both Red Bull-backed teams, technical director Toyoharu Tanabe says.
Having only supplied single teams since returning to Formula 1 with McLaren in 2015, last year did bring double the workload as Red Bull joined Toro Rosso in working with the Japanese manufacturer.
But with double the engines, comes double the data and while Honda has already made huge progress over the past two years, that improvement is only going to continue.
“Supplying two teams last year, with both of them part of the same family, linked by Red Bull Technology, allowed us to up the speed of our development and that is something that will carry over into this season,” Tanabe was quoted by F1i.com.
“Everyone at our facilities in Sakura, Japan and Milton Keynes, UK has been working very hard to get even more power out of our PU.
“Of course, power is nothing without reliability and this year, that is even more challenging as the calendar will be the longest ever in F1 with 22 races.”
Also Read:
- Red Bull confident of Honda progress though Ferrari expected to stay ahead
- Mercedes: Ferrari engine superior but Honda developing faster!
It is hoped Honda can put themselves onto a similar level as Mercedes and Ferrari in 2020, something that would allow Red Bull to potentially challenge for their first F1 title since 2013.
But while there is a quiet confidence, Tanabe isn’t making any bold claims yet.
“The technical regulations relating to the PU have hardly changed since last year,” he added.
“Therefore, we have been able to make progress based on the experience we gained across all four of our cars in 2019.
“I believe we can make a step forward and our aim is to obtain even better results than we did last year.
“But in any sport, your performance can only be judged in relation to that of your competitors, so until we start racing, it’s impossible to predict just how successful we can be.”