07/08/2017
NEWS STORY
Amidst growing confidence following McLaren's double points finish in Hungary and the subsequent pace of Stoffel Vandoorne and Lando Norris in testing - even though the Hungaroring was always likely to favour the team - Honda's Yusuke Hasegawa is now looking to overhaul Renault in terms of performance by season end.
"I think we can keep the same ratio of the increasing of the power but it is difficult to catch up Mercedes or Ferrari," he admitted, according to Motorsport.com.
"I really want to move ahead of Renault in terms of performance before the end of the season," he added.
Asked if this is a real possibility, he said: "Yes, I can see that on the data. I will not tell you the number, but we are closing the gap."
Referring to Hungary, where not only was performance improved but there were no significant reliability issues, he said: "The drivability was OK but still the drivers highlighted a lack of power. They are very confident with the car, which is good, but it is still difficult to challenge the top three teams."
Having introduced its Spec 3 unit in Azerbaijan, the Japanese manufacturer, now freed of the dreaded token system, is now looking to introduce its Spec 4 unit as soon as dyno testing shows significant improvements.
On the other hand, it is well documented that gains on the dyno do not always successfully transfer to the track for Honda.