Honda not satisfied yet: ''We can fight to some extent now''

During the Belgian Grand Prix Red Bull Racing had no chance to compete against Mercedes. The package from Red Bull and Honda is not yet good enough to give Max Verstappen a chance at victory and that means there is work to be done.

''It is difficult to evaluate just the engine power, because it is the whole package that has to perform. I think that Honda has now reached a level where we can fight to some extent, but it is clear that the competition is very strong and that Mercedes still has a big lead,'' says Toyoharu Tanabe to Auto Sport Web.

Overtaking is not easy in Formula 1 due to the rapidly wearing tyres from Pirelli, so the most important part is qualifying. There Mercedes has a big lead and Honda still has to work to improve its speed.

''In qualifying, they are faster, but in the race, the difference doesn't seem to be that big. However, you can't overtake so easily, because then you really have to be a lot faster per lap. Red Bull Honda used qualifying mode this weekend, so let's see how that goes next weekend. However, I got the impression that Mercedes has already tested without qualifying mode," concludes Honda's top man.