F1 News
Honda looking to bridge gap to leaders in qualifying for Red Bull
- Bevan Youl
After their first win in Formula 1 in thirteen years in Austria Honda are looking to improve on their qualifying when they next bring in an engine upgrade.
At the French Grand Prix Honda brought in an upgrade boosting the performance and durability of the engine, but Red Bull haven’t quite been there with Mercedes and Ferrari in qualifying this year.
Toyuharu Tanabe said (quoted by GPToday) when asked if qualifying was the next area of improvement: “Yes, qualifying mode but race as well.
“We try to use our power unit as hard as we can, but it’s not easy to go higher immediately. We keep developing and maybe in the next step or update."
"We see a bigger gap in qualifying to the others. In the race, we’re still behind but not as much as in qualifying.
“It means that in our next step we need to catch up with them more in qualifying, but it’s not easy.”
After Max Verstappen’s win in Austria for Red Bull Tanabe felt the hard work was paying off for the team.
He added: “It was a really special moment for everyone in the Team and for Honda.
"All the hard work is beginning to pay off."