Honda are just 30 horsepower shy of Mercedes

When Red Bull decided to make the switch from Renault to Honda from 2019 season onwards, the onlookers had a lot of questions regarding Red Bull’s rationale about the move.

Renault and Red Bull had had a successful partnership for some time now and though the results hadn’t been great for Red Bull in the last few years, they had been there and thereabouts.

Honda on the other hand had been struggling with McLaren for the last 3 years and thus McLaren decided to move onto Renault.

So, in a way Red Bull were trying to defy the ‘recent happenings’ and were ready to take that leap of faith with Honda, as their upgrade before the Canadian Grand Prix showed a lot of promise.

According to BBC Journalist Andrew Benson’s sources, the gap between the Honda and the Mercedes engine is just of about 30 horsepower.

With Honda aggressively working on their engine, that gap could further reduce come 2019.

If there is only a 20 horsepower gap between Red Bull and Mercedes engine next year, Benson believes that Red Bull could seriously challenge Mercedes next year, and could be major challengers for the constructor’s and driver’s championship.

“The quality of the RB14 is clearly visible” Benson said.

“With a little more power and again a chassis by Adrian Newey, it is not inconceivable that the team can really compete for the title next season.” he added.

The 20hp gap would essentially mean a gap of three tenths on the track, something that Red Bull could cover with help of their superior chassis.

Can Red Bull realistically challenge Mercedes and Ferrari next year?