Tanabe praises Mercedes: "Their performance really is mind blowing"

Max Verstappen seemed to be able to keep up with Mercedes with his Red Bull-Honda during the Grand Prix at Imola. The recent updates seem to be doing their job. In the end it was pure bad luck that he couldn't make things more difficult for Lewis Hamilton. Toyoharu Tanabe of Honda puts that speed into perspective a little bit, but he is combative.

"Bottas had some damage to his car, didn't he?," says the Japanese when he looks back for Autosport Web. "I don't think much has changed. I think we have made some progress and have come closer step by step by solving the problems. As a challenger, you have to work harder than them to keep up. And they don't stop either. I hope that next season we will be ready to take the fight to the next level."

Meanwhile, competitor Mercedes reached a milestone. They became world champions for the seventh time in a row. This has never been achieved by a team before and Tanabe believes that this achievement should in no way be underestimated. The longer it takes, the more difficult it is, in his opinion, to maintain that success.