Honda believes performance from its new 2021 engine exceeds that of Mercedes’ unit from last year, much to the delight of Red Bull.
With the Japanese manufacturer pulling out of Formula 1 after this season, it was decided to introduce a new power unit that had originally been planned for this year but then pushed back to 2022.
And so far, the move appears to have paid off, with both Red Bull and AlphaTauri enjoying a strong pre-season test in Bahrain, where they finished at the top of the timesheets.
“Honda has built a completely new engine. It is a true work of art in terms of how compact it is and the way it fits into the car,” Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko told Austria’s Servus TV recently.
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“The engine also has more power, an improvement that brings us up to Mercedes’ level.
“We know they [Mercedes] don’t sleep, so I hope their jump isn’t that big now that their engine is already in its eighth year and that development curve has to start flattening out.
“But I am very confident about the Honda engine.”
Honda technical director Toyoharu Tanabe was also bullish about the potential of the new engine.
“I believe we exceeded last year’s Mercedes but it depends on the conditions,” he declared to The Race.
“We have no idea how much improvement has been done in this off-season on Mercedes’ side.
“Last year, we saw a big step in their development, and it’s very hard to guess what’s going on and the result of their development. We have no answer yet.
“We will see when we start qualifying and after the race.”
After testing, however, Marko was particularly happy, even if he was still insistent Mercedes are the team to beat.
“That was certainly the best test since Red Bull Racing came into existence,” he claimed. “Everything worked right from the start.
“But we know that Mercedes is the favourite, and I assume that they drove with much more fuel than we did.
“The fact that they didn’t really align with others in terms of fuel load, that already shows that they must have a lot of confidence. So we assume they still have a lot up their sleeves.
“Mercedes is the favourite and we are the first challenger, that’s how I see the situation.
“Behind them, it’s going to be a battle. I think McLaren will stand out a bit, but not at the level of Mercedes and us. The midfield is certainly closer together.”