Reports: Honda just 20HP away from Ferrari and Mercedes

The 2019 season is going to be an extremely important one for Honda, after being given the opportunity to get back amongst the F1 elite with Red Bull.

Honda’s relationship with McLaren proved to be a very sour one, especially towards the end, as McLaren constantly put the blame on Honda for failing to provide a good enough engine.

Little did anyone expect that Red Bull would terminate its contract with Renault, let alone get Honda on board as their engine partner.

Plying their trade with Toro Rosso, Honda have been constantly working to improve their engine and provide better performance. Their upgrade for Toro Rosso meant that Red Bull were convinced that Honda could be bought on board from the 2019 season, following a fall out with Renault.

Now, Honda has been coming up with intermediate engine upgrades all through this season, and according to Motorsport Italy, they are just 20HP short of Ferrari and Mercedes with respect to race configuration.

“We are impressed by the commitment and determination that Honda has confirmed with some steps forward that are clear to everyone” said the Red Bull team.

“Beyond the current performance, we and Honda share the final goal, which is to return to fight for the highest goals.What we see today is an excellent basis on which to start work in view of 2019” they added.

The qualifying gap still remains quite significant and Honda are working towards bringing it down. An upgrade for the same could be brought out during the Abu Dhabi GP, but nothing is confirmed as of now.