Honda confident: "Don't know why Mercedes have already replaced their engine"

The Red Bull Racing team has made great strides for the 2021 Formula One season. In part, this is due to the performance of the Honda powerunit, which is faster and more reliable than ever. But where has the biggest change at Honda taken place?

According to Scott Mitchell of The Race confidence is the key. As an example he mentions the huge step Honda has made in the few months between the 2020 and 2021 season. According to Mitchell, Honda only really started developing the current engine in October. That was a big gamble, especially given the limited number of test days before the new season.

"During the season we see even more things in which Honda deviates from the past. For example, they've caught up with Mercedes in power recovery, and solved the cause of their weak starts," Mitchell writes. "And at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix another surprise came: Honda, unlike Mercedes and Ferrari, drove their sixth race weekend with the same power source."

According to Mitchell this proves that Honda has a lot of confidence in the reliability of their engine, especially considering the long straights in Baku. However, Toyoharu Tanabe, technical director of Honda F1, gives a different explanation for this choice. "From our point of view, I would like to know why other teams deployed a new power unit in Baku. There are 23 races; so you have to run seven or eight races with one engine. Baku was only number six," Tanabe said.