Clear performance gap to Mercedes still exists – Honda

Honda admit they still have a lot of work to do to close the "clear performance gap" that still exists between their power unit and that of the perceived leading Mercedes engine.

Although Honda scored its first Formula 1 podium since the 2008 British Grand Prix at the season-opener in Melbourne last time out – thanks to Red Bull's Max Verstappen – the Dutchman finished more than 20 seconds adrift of race winner Valtteri Bottas.

Honda are therefore well aware that there is work to be done to close that gap according to Honda F1 technical director, Toyoharu Tanabe.

"It was good to finish third in the season opener in Australia, our first podium finish since 2008," he said. 

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"However, we saw a clear performance gap to the winning team both in qualifying and the race, therefore as soon as we returned to our facilities in the UK and Japan, we began a detailed analysis of all the data we gathered from our four cars in Melbourne and continued our PU development work for this weekend and further races."

Tanabe is hopeful Bahrain will offer up a more accurate picture of where they stand compared to their rivals, after Melbourne's Albert Park offered up a confused order as Ferrari were seemingly nowhere despite heading into the race as favourites.

"We now head to Bahrain and the Sakhir circuit, which is more representative of a normal permanent circuit, after the unusual Albert Park track which is more of a stop-go street circuit.

"The Sakhir track also has quite a long straight, which means that, by the end of the weekend, we should have a better idea of the ability and potential of both our car-PU packages.

"Obviously, Bahrain holds good memories for us, as it was here last year that Gasly and Toro Rosso got their best result of the year, finishing fourth. We will be working hard to continue the positive trend we saw in Australia, in the hope of creating more good memories here."