Honda: 'So far this has been our smoothest Friday of the season'

The Honda riders' speed on Friday in Portimao may not have been as impressive as in previous race weekends, but that's not the whole story. Honda's big man Toyoharu Tanabe said that, as he saw his drivers complete two flawless sessions.

"This was our smoothest Friday of the season so far", he said in a retrospective on the website of Honda Racing. "All four of our drivers completed a respectable number of laps, with no real issues and we acquired plenty of useful information."

According to Tanabe data gathering is more important than usual at the circuit in the Algarve because the teams have driven so little. Formula 1 was also here six months ago but according to the Japanese, some things have changed since then.

He mainly means the asphalt. Last year it was brand new and therefore offered very little grip. Although drivers again complained about a lack of grip, Honda wants to find out for themselves. "We will now analyse every aspect of our performance in order to optimise our settings for qualifying and the race", said Tanabe.