Head of Honda’s Formula 1 project Yusuke Hasegawa has said that he was encouraged by the competitiveness shown in Suzuka a little under two weeks ago, despite the McLaren Honda Formula One Team failing to register points.
Honda are entering the final four races of their tumultuous second partnership with McLaren, before moving to supply Scuderia Toro Rosso for 2018 and beyond.
“After the very busy few weeks in Asia, we’re now on the home stretch of the 2017 season and heading to The Americas.” Hasegawa said.
“At our final home grand prix as McLaren Honda at Suzuka we did not achieve the results we were looking for, but despite not collecting any points we were encouraged by our competitiveness.”
Hasegawa stressed the importance of a good setup in order to achieve maximum performance around the tricky Circuit of The Americas, each sector posing a different test.
“The Circuit of The Americas is a very different challenge in its configuration.”
“It’s a technical track with plenty of variation including great hard-braking corners, an undulating ‘S’ curve inspired by the famous Silverstone corners, and slow twisting turns.”
“It will be important to us to refine and tune the power unit properly for each of these sectors to ensure good drivability.”
However, Hasegawa believes that Honda have the chance to do well this weekend, referring back to the team’s double-points finish at the venue last year. Furthermore, the Japanese feels that it is the last track that suits the Honda engine, with three power dominant tracks rounding out the 2017 season.
“We think this track suits our package and gives us the best chance out of the remaining four rounds.”
“McLaren Honda had a good race here last year with a double-points finish, and we hope we can do the same and cross the line inside the top ten.”
