After two of the three qualifying sessions, Toyoharu Tanabe, the technical director of Honda’s Formula 1 branch, had a big smile on his face. He saw all four drivers powered by his engine make it to the final and decisive qualifying session, where it would be decided who would take pole.
After a run, Honda’s crop wasn’t particularly good, but it wasn’t bad either. A third place for Max Verstappen, a fourth for Pierre Gasly, a seventh for Sergio Perez and an eighth for Yuki Tsunoda. However, that had to be better and in the second run it was certainly possible, although Tsunoda made a mistake and parked his car in the wall.
The result: a red flag, which prevented anyone from improving their time. So the four Honda drivers had to settle for their place after the first run. Honda was not very happy about that. However, after qualifying, Tanabe first wanted to highlight the positive side of the story. “It’s positive to have all four drivers in Q3 for the first time this season, especially as it was a tough qualifying, with red flags in all sessions.”
“However, the result could have been better,” Tanabe continues with a sigh. “It was a bit frustrating that Tsunoda’s crash caused a red flag, which prevented Verstappen, but also Perez and Gasly from improving their lap times on the last run,” said the Honda foreman.
However, there is little time to dwell on that, because the race is coming. Honda expects to see more chunks in this. Hopefully not with her own drivers. “We can expect more incidents during the race on a tight street circuit like this. At least all four of our drivers have already shown a good pace, so our goal is to finish higher than they start with all four.”
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