Mclaren praise Honda performance

McLaren Executive Director Zak Brown has praised former engine partner Honda's performance during winter testing so far.

The Woking outfit switched from Honda power over the winter to Renault after three years of poor performance and embarrassing failures. However since the covers came off the cars just over a week ago, it is Honda's new partners Toro Rosso who have had the better testing performance, covering many more miles than McLaren, a painful irony as the team sit bottom of the charts in terms of laps completed so far in testing with only two days remaining until the teams move their focus onto Melbourne for the season opener. 

With over 100 more laps completed, Toro Rosso Honda currently sit on 495 laps completed whereas McLaren Renault have logged just 355 and those have been blighted with issues with cooling issues and electrical faults.

Speaking to Autosport, Brown praised Honda's newfound performance, acknowledging "it was just a matter of time until they'd see some improvements."

"We're focused on our own programme. I know, as you'd expect, there are a lot of comparisons in testing between them and us, but Eric [Boullier] and the full team are focused on our programme, and very confident we're going to have a good season."

"We know they're a great company and it was just a matter of time until they'd see some improvements. They're having a good test and good on them."