Honda thinks it can use more aggressive engine modes in the future

It was not a trouble-free first weekend for Honda in Bahrain. Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez had to have parts replaced and the Mexican Red Bull Racing driver had all his systems down in the warm-up lap. However, the Japanese are not ruling out taking more risks with the engine in 2021.

Honda could have already upped the engine in Bahrain further than they did. There is no more qualifying mode, teams have to drive with the same engine modes in qualifying and the Grand Prix. However, there are still opportunities to play with the release of electric power. It is possible that Honda will adopt a different strategy and be more aggressive in both areas in the future.

“We will review and consider this data. We need to see how much the power unit has been exhausted in this race, and we will then use it according to the characteristics of each circuit in the future. We plan to verify whether this usage was optimal. Basically, I think that it can be used without problems, but I plan to think about what I should do to use it properly in the future," Toyoharu Tanabe told Autosport.com.

Honda thus argues that it could have already deployed more engine power, but analyses will have to show how much risk can be taken in two weeks time at Imola.