The Honda engine manufacturer knows that it will be difficult for them to obtain significant gains in the development of their engine in 2020.

Honda returned to F1 one year after the introduction of turbo V6 engines, joining forces with the McLaren team in 2015, but struggling for three seasons before ending the collaboration in 2017.

But since Honda has been working with Toro Rosso in 2018 and Red Bull Racing this year, the Japanese engine manufacturer has made spectacular progress and has even had the luxury of winning three races and no less than ten podiums with his two teams this season.

However, the Honda technical director is well aware that it will be difficult for the engineers to get the last tenths this year, after huge gains over the previous two seasons.

“We were able to show our improvement, our good positive progress this year, not only with Red Bull but also with Toro Rosso. ” said Toyoharu Tanabe to RACER.

“It was very pleasant for all the people working on this project and for Honda. So I want to keep this momentum going for next year.”

“Development for next year has already begun. And then we have to push harder to achieve our goal. I think it’s more difficult than in previous years. We must be precise in each area, in terms of hardware, software and track management as well. ” concludes Tanabe.

“We no longer have any excuses”

Meanwhile, Red Bull’s Helmut Marko remains bullish about the team’s prospects next year with Honda when interviewed earlier this week on ServusTV, the Austrian TV program.

“We have learned from that year and we no longer have any excuses for the coming year. Our Honda power source is top notch, Max is also top notch and now we have to ensure a good chassis,” 

“We are two weeks ahead of our schedule, it is going better than ever before.”

“Of course I want to win more races in a season. We hope that we will participate from the beginning of the season next year and have a chance to go for the world title,”