McLaren Honda’s Yusuke Hasegawa was pleased that the team managed to secure points at the German Grand Prix in the hands of Jenson Button and is confident they are progressing in the right direction.
“I am happy that Jenson and the team were able to score points with a P8 finish.
“Looking back at the last few races, we are now confident that our progress is definitely headed in the right direction, and we’re now aiming to make another step forward in the early part of the second half of the season”.
As the Head of F1 Project & Executive Chief Engineer, Hasegawa oversees a large part of the team and is pushing the Honda powered team closer to the top three teams. He highlighted the struggles that McLaren faced at the Hockenheimring with high tyre degradation and fuel saving.
“It was a very difficult race for both the team and drivers, trying to manage on-track battles, fuel-saving and tyre management. Fernando also had very good race pace, but due to this, he was obliged to manage his fuel and pace at the end of the race while trying to hold off his rivals. He fought a tough fight, but was unable to maintain his position and finished in P12”.
With a well-earned summer break just around the corner, Hasegawa wanted to congratulate the team on their hard work so far this season.
“Last but not least, I would like to thank every member of the McLaren-Honda team for their brilliant work in this long and gruelling first half of the season. I hope everyone enjoys their time off and can come back refreshed for the latter half.”
