Honda F1 Technical Director Toyoharu Tanabe admits he was disappointed to see the final day of pre-season testing conclude earlier than hoped when a minor ‘anomaly’ was detected on the power unit, with too little time to replace it.
Other than that, Tanabe feels the Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda partnership began in a positive manner, with Honda using only one power unit being throughout the four-day second test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with almost five hundred laps being completed between Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley.
“Today, Brendon went through the same programme that Pierre did yesterday and completed 156 laps,” said Tanabe. “Both drivers were able to complete a race simulation, which is a positive result.
“We used the same Power Unit throughout Test 2. Therefore, it was disappointing that we spotted an anomaly on the data from our PU towards the end of session and decided to stop running, as there would not have been enough time to investigate the situation fully and send the car out again.
“Overall, the results of winter testing have been satisfactory,” continued Tanabe, “as we managed to get through nearly all items on our programme, thus acquiring plenty of valuable data.
“Equally important, it was our first eight days of working at a race track together with Toro Rosso. Our relationship has been very open and honest and communication has been effective between all of us. It’s only testing, but it has been an ideal start and now we look forward to racing together in Melbourne.”
