Honda closing gap to Mercedes

Verstappen and Honda coming on strong

When asked by Autosportweb about the gap to Mercedes, Honda F1 executive director Masashi Yamamoto replied: “I think it’s shrinking. At the time of the opening round, I didn’t feel that we could get closer to Mercedes. The developers of HRD Sakura (Honda Technical Research Institute) and engineers at the race site did a really good job.

“And in Hungary, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Max fought wheel-to-wheel at the front. What was very impressive was when Hamilton actually had to back off a move early in the race. That was amazing. If we had a similar scenario at the beginning of the opening race, Hamilton would not have backed off, but it would have been over in a few seconds. I think it was a fruitful first half of the season."