Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/797847
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 12 MARCH 2017 53 FORMULA 1 Sport HONDA F1 chief Yusuke Hasegawa says the manufacturer is slightly "scared" of its perfor- mance deficit compared to its ri- vals, following a troubled build-up to the 2017 campaign. Honda, entering its third year as McLaren's power unit supplier, endured limited running across the first week, initially due to the shape of the oil tank, before a loss of power also affected proceed- ings. During the second week, electri- cal glitches affected the MCL32, with Stoffel Vandoorne and Fer- nando Alonso stopping four times over the course of Thursday and Friday. The delays meant McLaren completed only 424 laps in the eight days of running, with Toro Rosso next up, on 584, some way behind leader Mercedes, which totalled 1096 laps. McLaren also lacked pace, with its best lap time, recorded by Van- doorne on Ultra Softs, leaving the outfit ninth fastest, 2.714s down on Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen, ahead only of Sauber. "Of course we knew the perfor- mance level but we didn't know the level of the other teams," Hasegawa explained to RACER. "So from a comparison point of view we are a little bit scared of the situation and it's too optimis- tic for us to expect a very good re- sult in Melbourne. "But from a trouble point of view, of course I didn't expect such a wide variety of problems that we suffered. "Everything that has happened has not been seen on the dyno, I believe." Hasegawa believes Honda's pre- dicament has also been accentu- ated by the gains made by its com- petitors during the off-season. "Of course we also improved our engine performance level; how- ever, it looks like the power unit performance improvement of the others is better and higher than us," he said. "We may even be further back, so that is very disappointing. "From the settings or a setting point of view we may have some things we can do in these two weeks. "In the next two weeks we will try to find some ways of tuning the engine, and it can have better performance, definitely." McLaren-Honda finished ninth out of 10 teams in the 2015 stand- ings, on 27 points, before climbing to sixth out of 11 teams last sea- son, collecting 76 points. Honda 'a little bit scared' of performance deficit Ferrari power unit 'big step' forward in 2017 FERRARI has made a "big step" forward with its power unit compared to the 2016 season, following pre-season testing in Barcelona, according to Haas team boss Guenther Steiner. Ferrari caught the eye with a succession of quick lap times at the Circuit de Barcelona- Catalunya, culminating in Kimi Räikkönen's 1:18.634 on the Su- per Soft tyre on the final test day. Ferrari also supplies Haas with its current-specification power unit, while Sauber uses its year- old version, and Steiner noted significant gains at the end of eight days of testing. "I don't know in percentage, because I don't know Ferrari's aero figures, but our engine is the same," said Steiner, when asked by GPUpdate.net about Ferrari's power unit progress. "I think the engine has made a big step from last year, but Fer- rari's car in general is very good. "I would say the power unit, at the moment, is our smallest problem." Romain Grosjean was also full of praise for Ferrari's efforts over the winter. "I'm not complaining about the Ferrari engine on my back," he laughed. "It's pretty good. It's a good step from last year. The drive- ability feels very nice. "The partnership with Ferrari for us is key; we have a good en- gine, a good gearbox, good sus- pension, and so on, so it's a big help and has a big impact on our performance."