02/06/2017
NEWS STORY
Suffering reliability issues since the start of pre-season testing, Honda has had its hands full this season as it seeks to improve said reliability and also performance.
However, days before the Canadian Grand Prix at which the Japanese manufacturer had hoped to introduce its much-anticipated upgrade, it has admitted that it is running out of time.
"I don't give up and we are trying very hard but until Thursday, I can't decide," said Yusuke Hasegawa, according to Motorsport.com.
"Already, we have had some performance (improvement)," he admitted, "but if it is very small, it's not worth changing engine for the next one.
"We haven't started working on the settings. If we are not confident enough to set up that specification, it will cause some driveability issues, so the settings are also important.
"We have some other elements in development, we can introduce it if we can set up and if we can check the reliability. Everything is not ready. But we have some factors that are.
"Maybe we stick with the next step of the engine, even if the next step up is very small," he added, "or can we try another step up in performance? It's very tight to introduce a big update for Canada."
Just days after Hasegawa admitted that the current MGU-H is only good for two races, he revealed that the focus of attention in terms of the upgrade has been the internal combustion engine (ICE).
"The ICE is the biggest area we need to improve," he said.
With the Indy 500 out of the way - that particular smoke and mirrors adventure ending in yet another Honda failure - the Japanese manufacturer's F1 exploits are back in the spotlight.