Max Verstappen’s podium in Australia left Honda “more relaxed” about their position, according to technical director Toyoharu Tanabe.
The Red Bull driver scored what was the Japanese manufacturer’s first top-three finish since 2008 in their first race supplying the team, something team boss Christian Horner described as a “dream start”.
“I think yes, [we are] a little bit more relaxed from the pressure,” Tanabe commented to Autosport. “And it is also another motivation for the development. It’s a good result.”
However, while reassuring, the Honda chief admits there is still plenty to do with an eight-tenth gap in qualifying and a 20-second margin to race winner Valtteri Bottas.
“We see again a clear gap between the top teams. The podium doesn’t make any change [to targets or expectations],” he said.
“We got some data from the Barcelona tests and we have something from here.”
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Tanabe also doesn’t want to get excited by Red Bull out-pacing Ferrari in the race.
“We need to think about the Ferrari performance after Barcelona [in pre-season testing], they were strong,” he noted.
“This track, we were faster than the Ferrari. We don’t know when we go to Barcelona again if Ferrari is still strong.
“It’s a combination of car characteristics, the driver, and the track characteristics. It’s not easy to tell where our performance is now. We go to a different place, maybe we are in a different position.
“But generally, the result and the race pace, we are encouraged from that.”
One man who did notice Honda’s potential though is Lewis Hamilton.
“They [Red Bull] were able to pass the Ferrari, I think it’s awesome,” he stated. “The Red Bulls are there with us and I think we are going to have a really, really great battle between the three of us.
“I am sure for Ferrari that something has not been right this weekend, but I am pretty sure that the car is still good. It is going to be a really interesting season.”
