A few words from the drivers: ............................Toyoharu Tanabe / Honda Racing F1
As usual, the Baku circuit produced a chaotic race, but in the end Sergio Perez who had run a strong second for most of the afternoon was able to claim his second ever F1 win and his first with Red Bull Racing and Honda, after defending his lead at the restart following the red flag. Really, the win should have gone to Max Verstappen who dominated the race until a crash, for which he was entirely blameless, put him out of the race with three laps remaining. Pierre Gasly also had a good afternoon, finishing third for Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda and for us to have two drivers on the podium, one from each team, is really fantastic. Yuki Tsunoda did well to come home seventh and score points in a tough mid-field battle so that the team has moved up to fifth in the Constructors’ classification. Today’s performance and having four cars in Q3 yesterday was down to a great job from all four drivers and both teams. Now we have a short break in which to prepare for what will be a tough triple header, which starts with the French Grand Prix. We are looking forward to it and will be working hard to try and keep winning.
Masamitsu Motohashi // Honda Racing F1
From a Honda perspective, we can be pleased with Scuderia AlphaTauri’s performance today as this circuit is very demanding for the Power Unit. The typical slow street circuit corners followed by the very long straight means that we have to consider the best combination of three factors – power, driveability and energy management and Baku is one of the most difficult circuits from that point of view. The final race result shows that we did quite well in terms of energy management and that is thanks to all the hard work and experience of staff in HRD Sakura and HRD UK.
A chaotic race like today’s is busy and demanding for the engineers. Of course, we had planned for various possible scenarios, working with the AlphaTauri engineers before the weekend and were well prepared and Pierre made the most of the opportunity to get on the podium once again. Apart from a mistake in qualifying Yuki also performed well this weekend, doing a decent job and scoring points. It was his first time in Baku and he made progress through each session. He had some tough race weekends before this one and has worked very hard to improve. Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda is now fifth in the Constructors’ championship but it is very close and there is still a long way to go. We have a good chassis and our PU is also performing well, so if we can keep having decent race weekends the results will follow, hopefully producing more podium finishes for Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda.
Well said @Goldwing! Nothing to add.Goldwing wrote: ↑11 Jun 2021, 08:13Thank you very much Wazari and his team for their work, their effort to reach this level of perfomance. Anything would happen in this season, but You proved Honda engineering is 1st class. I hope we all, the teams, fans, the people who love Honda brand all over the world wil have sweet fruit at the and of the season. Thank you for your brilliant job! Zo,Bp.
eh? Asaki and his team.Wouter wrote: ↑11 Jun 2021, 08:39Well said @Goldwing! Nothing to add.Goldwing wrote: ↑11 Jun 2021, 08:13Thank you very much Wazari and his team for their work, their effort to reach this level of perfomance. Anything would happen in this season, but You proved Honda engineering is 1st class. I hope we all, the teams, fans, the people who love Honda brand all over the world wil have sweet fruit at the and of the season. Thank you for your brilliant job! Zo,Bp.
Yasuaki Asaki is the head of Honda's F1 engine development.ispano6 wrote: ↑12 Jun 2021, 09:03eh? Asaki and his team.Wouter wrote: ↑11 Jun 2021, 08:39Well said @Goldwing! Nothing to add.Goldwing wrote: ↑11 Jun 2021, 08:13Thank you very much Wazari and his team for their work, their effort to reach this level of perfomance. Anything would happen in this season, but You proved Honda engineering is 1st class. I hope we all, the teams, fans, the people who love Honda brand all over the world wil have sweet fruit at the and of the season. Thank you for your brilliant job! Zo,Bp.
Asaki was who assembled Honda's secret skunkworks in 2017-18 and brought in key personnel from other divisions . And Tanabe and Motohashi and the trackside operation team are extracting the maximum from the power unit that has been given to them. The engineer from the motorcycle division credited for the engine plating was really nervous about how the PU would hold up but was relieved when it became known that it gave their ICE a whole new world of possibilities.Wouter wrote: ↑12 Jun 2021, 09:34Yasuaki Asaki is the head of Honda's F1 engine development.
However, Wazari (with his team) has played a very important role in the progression of the engine, hence Wazari and his team. Ultimately, of course, Asaki is responsible for how the engine performs.
Also a big thank you to Asaki, who has a hell of a team.
Not sure when you joined the site but you may have missed out on the stories of the foundational developments that were laid on the combustion side leading into 2017. Wazari had to convince the group that they had to change to a more reliable combustion concept that he had a key role in.ispano6 wrote: ↑13 Jun 2021, 18:13Asaki was who assembled Honda's secret skunkworks in 2017-18 and brought in key personnel from other divisions . And Tanabe and Motohashi and the trackside operation team are extracting the maximum from the power unit that has been given to them. The engineer from the motorcycle division credited for the engine plating was really nervous about how the PU would hold up but was relieved when it became known that it gave their ICE a whole new world of possibilities.Wouter wrote: ↑12 Jun 2021, 09:34Yasuaki Asaki is the head of Honda's F1 engine development.
However, Wazari (with his team) has played a very important role in the progression of the engine, hence Wazari and his team. Ultimately, of course, Asaki is responsible for how the engine performs.
Also a big thank you to Asaki, who has a hell of a team.