F1 | Honda, Toyoharu Tanabe: “Disappointing race, we are already working on reliability”

The Honda engine had been nominated as a direct challenger to Mercedes, especially with Max Verstappen, but something seems to have gone wrong with the second specification brought to Austria for the first round of the season. Three retirements out of four single-seaters on the track, the only one to have crossed the finish line was Pierre Gasly, who also achieved his first championship points, finishing seventh.

Lots of work to do for Toyoharu Tanabe, Honda's technical director, and his team, in particular on the electrical problems linked to the Power Unit.

"The first race of the season ended with three retirements for our cars, which is disappointing. The only positive aspect is that Gasly scored some points in the first AlphaTauri race. Verstappen was doing very well with Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, having started second on the grid, until he was forced to retire due to an electrical problem – explained Tanabe – Albon was very unlucky to lose second position in the closing laps and was still fighting for the points when he had to retire with a suspected PU-related electrical problem.

"We will stay here in Austria for the second round of the World Championship, next weekend, and we will analyze all our data to try to adopt solutions to ensure greater reliability at the next round".