Honda’s Yusuke Hasegawa sees Monza as a major draw for the fans and the teams because of the high speed nature of the track and passion and enthusiasm that the Italian fans bring to Formula 1.
“We cannot deny the strong pull Monza has for everyone in F1, including Honda. The fans are incredibly passionate about the sport, and the atmosphere is nothing short of electric come race day. It’s always a special feeling to be part of the pinnacle of racing in Italy”.
Hasegawa believes the long straights could leave McLaren vulnerable to Mercedes and Ferrari power units, “Monza is a high-speed, power-hungry, classic and legendary track with the longest full throttle percentage per lap on the 2016 calendar. The long straights and the nature of the turns will undoubtedly give us a difficult time over the race weekend.”
As Honda’s R&D Co Ltd Head of F1 Project & Executive Chief Engineer, Hasegawa praised the team for a positive Spa performance, with Fernando Alonso scoring valuable points.
“The team did a great job pulling our strengths together last weekend despite Spa being a challenging track, and with the reliability issues we faced. The team was tested many times, but owing to their hard work and perseverance, we had a decent weekend”.
McLaren-Honda have made huge step forward this season and will continue to develop the power unit throughout the fly away races.
“We will continue to target finishing in the points in the race, however tough it may be this weekend. We’re still investigating the problem with Fernando’s power units, but we’ll learn from our experiences and hopefully have another good weekend in Monza.”
