F1 engine manufacturer Honda has promised to increase the power of its engine over the course of the next few races in the hopes of easing the increasing pressure on McLaren to perform.

The McLaren-Honda partnership has managed to score only four points so far this season while suffering from ongoing reliability issues. The team felt the blow of a double retirement at the Canadian Grand Prix with the race exposing just how far behind Honda from its rivals in terms of power. Both McLarens were running at around 35km/h slower than the leading cars on straights and also had issues with fuel efficiency during the race.

Honda used up two power unit development tokens coming into the Canadian Grand Prix with Honda boss Yasuhisa Arai saying there is more development on the way.

“On the power unit side, we will see more horsepower in the near future by using the tokens and step-by-step up the horsepower in the next few races,” he said. “We are working very hard as one team, not only on the power unit but also aerodynamics and chassis.

“We have seen good progress in those two areas [aerodynamics and chassis] between Australia and Canada and maybe in a few more and in the second half of the season we can achieve top level performance and compete with the top level teams.”

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier has admitted that pressure is mounting on the team. “There is pressure, it’s normal,” he said. “We are all competitors and we want to win and be competitive, so there is pressure on Honda, McLaren and our shoulders.

“Like any company in the world they [the board] come to visit us, which is good support, and they are here also to understand. We have a duty to report, which is normal, but we don’t have an extraordinary pressure. We are transparent enough for them to know what we are doing and we hope that we know what we are doing as well.”

Boullier did admit though that both the Honda power unit and the McLaren chassis are currently behind in comparison with their current leading rivals.

“If you want to win, you have to be the best everywhere. In terms of aerodynamics, vehicle dynamics, chassis, power unit and drivability – we have to improve everywhere. We are lacking in downforce to be the top chassis, so we have to work on this and make it better. It’s a new concept, a new philosophy this year and on the Honda side there is of course more work to be done in terms of performance.”

McLaren photo credits: McLaren-Honda

Eric Boullier photo: Sky F1 screengrab