F1 News
Honda knows it "must work to perform better as soon as possible"
- Nicolás Quarles van Ufford
Honda technical director Toyoharu Tanabe was left wanting more after the Canadian Grand Prix as none of the four Honda-powered cars cracked the top four, although three of the four finished within the points.
After being unlucky in qualifying, Max Verstappen started ninth and couldn't finish higher than fifth, while his Red Bull teammate Pierre Gasly almost did the exact opposite, starting fifth and finishing eighth. Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat recovered very well to grab the final point as he finished 10th, while his teammate Alexander Albon retired from the race.
"Verstappen performed well to recover from ninth on the grid, the result of an unfortunate qualifying yesterday, to finish fifth this afternoon," Tanabe analysed after the race.
"However, he lost time, stuck behind slower cars in the early stages, after which he was unable to challenge for a podium position."
Looking at the other three drivers, Tanabe thought it positive that he had two more drivers scoring points while being powered by Honda, while he also explained how unlucky Albon was to retire.
"We also have Gasly, eighth and Kvyat, tenth, in the points, which is positive. Daniil never gave up fighting and claimed his point right at the very end. As for Alex, he was unlucky to be involved in a first lap collision which meant he had to pit to change the nose and there was nothing much he could do from there.
"We must work to improve in order to perform better as soon as possible, given that we are now coming to our first back-to-back races in France and Austria.