Hasegawa: Honda reaching a ‘decent level’

Editor

Honda F1 boss Yusuke Hasegawa has been encouraged by McLaren’s performance in Brazil and believes the engine manufacturer are continuing to head in the right direction.

McLaren and Honda are preparing for their final race together before the divorce goes through, with McLaren joining forces with Renault and Honda linking up with Toro Rosso.

And as the two parties get ready to go their separate ways, Hasegawa is feeling positive that Honda are beginning to overcome the problems that has blighted their three-year relationship.

“Since Monza, our package and engine performance is almost at a decent level,” Hasegawa told Motorsport.com. “We could maximise the current engine performance in Brazil, which is encouraging.

“It was a good race for us” he said, “Fernando had some exciting on-track battles against his rivals.

“As a total package point of view, that was our position – where Fernando finished. We are quicker than Williams and we are almost the same level as Force India.”

“[Performance] depends on the circuit characteristics.”

Hasegawa did concede, though, that there is a still way for Honda to go before they can match the other engine manufacturers.

“It was disappointing that Alonso was unable to overtake Massa and move further up the field,” he added. “From a power point of view, we’re a little bit behind the other engines.

“We are closing the gap, but we’re not there yet.”