Monza<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cWe have observed a step forward in terms of performance on our metrics, as expected,\u201d Honda’s Trackside General Manager and Chief Engineer Shintaro Orihara said of the Dutch GP.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have confirmed on the dyno, so that was positive, things we found in the Netherlands. But on the other hand, we found something which can improve on drivability. We have updated combustion characteristics, and then we prepared a data setting to adapt to new combustion to get better drivability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Orihara noted after FP2 that the countermeasures were working well, although the lap times told their own story about how far Honda has to go in order to get on a par with the other manufacturers.<\/p>\n
Despite the ongoing frustrations Alonso has faith that the company will return to the level that saw it win World Championships with Red Bull.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne hundred percent, yes,\u201d the Spaniard said on Thursday. \u201cI think it’s a huge commitment from Honda. The facilities we have in Japan are one of the best. I think the personnel and the management of the power unit now has been reinforced, as Honda said, and a lot of people that were in the previous project they are in again on this one. I think I have no doubts, and I trust one hundred percent Honda.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just need to shortcut somehow that process. Unfortunately, we started with the wrong foot, and we started with this set of regulations, not at the level that we wanted. But I have no doubts that they will get there.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd as I said many times, we don’t want to wait, you know, five years like they did last time, or six years. We want to do it in two years or three years maximum.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Zandvoort result was a welcome boost for the team after a tough season, but Alonso is under no illusions.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, we cannot be happy with P9, and I think no one is happy in the team,\u201d the two-time World Champion said. \u201cIt was a nice boost for everyone, knowing that at least the direction that we are taking is the right one, because we changed a lot of things in the car since Budapest, and obviously we know or we feel that in the corners we are getting, you know, in a much better place.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that gives hope for everyone in Silverstone that if we keep on going on this philosophy and this strategy and this pace of development, eventually we will be one of the fastest on the corners. So we tick one of the boxes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen on the engine side, I think Zandvoort was not a big improvement, to be honest. The driveability was a problem, and the extra power was difficult to feel in Zandvoort.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe Monza is going to be a truer test for the engine, but still a long way to go, and we need to improve in both ends, in chassis and on engine for next year, and it’s a must.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Italian Grand Prix weekend was always going to be a big test for Aston Martin and Honda…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":880441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-880440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/880441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}