Renault: Honda "one step behind" all other engine suppliers
F1 News
- Nicolás Quarles van Ufford
Remi Taffin, the man in charge of the engine department at Renault, has claimed Honda are still "one step behind" the other engine manufacturers in Formula 1, adding Renault's engine currently is more powerful than Mercedes' engine.
Renault lost its top client in Aston Martin Red Bull Racing last year but made great strides with McLaren, with the Woking-based team beating Renault's works team to fourth place in the constructors' championship, grabbing a podium in the process.
The French side still have improvements to make in the reliability department of the power unit as well, but Taffin claims the performance of his engines are close to being the best.
"We're battling Mercedes and Ferrari closely in terms of engine performance," Taffin told Auto Motor und Sport.
"Mercedes are a bit behind us, Ferrari are slightly ahead. Honda are one step behind."
Taffin did add that even with Honda, the power differences are relatively small, as there are no massive gulfs between some of the engines as there used to be.
"But we are no longer talking about differences of 50 kilowatts today. This happens at Ferrari, Mercedes and us between five and ten kilowatts. At Honda it's maybe 15 or 20 kilowatts behind."