Honda has outlined its “important target” for the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend, which marks round five of the 2026 F1 season.
The campaign has been a difficult one so far for the Japanese manufacturer, which returned to F1 this year as Aston Martin’s power unit supplier.
The team has spent the opening rounds towards the rear of the pecking order, with Honda’s engine suffering from reliability issues.
However, both Aston Martin cars reached the chequered flag last time out in Miami, marking the first double finish of the season for the team.
As it seeks further progress in Montreal this weekend, Honda has revealed that its primary focus will be on extracting more performance from the power unit.
“In Montreal, which is Lance’s home race, we will focus on enhancing the driveability and our energy management strategy to support the drivers in building more confidence,” said the team's chief engineer Shintaro Orihara.
“In fact, this is an important target of our race weekend. If we can give more confidence to the drivers in entering the corners faster and carrying more speed, then we unlock lap time.”
However, it will be another major challenge for Honda as it has just 60 minutes of practice to collect data before it heads into competitive sessions due to the sprint schedule.
“Canada is another new Sprint race format, making FP1 very important,” Orihara added.
“At this event, it’s the usual 60-minutes [opposed to the 90 in Miami], so it’s crucial to optimise everything during this session.
“Another characteristic is that the circuit has a long straight, so it’s vital to adjust energy deployment in this section of the lap.
“We also have a slow speed corner section before the back straight, but also Turns 1 and 2.
“Additionally, we have to consider possible wet conditions and cooler temperatures.
“This can be tricky for grip, and driveability becomes even more important with a combination of MGU-K delivery, accuracy and torque delivery accuracy.”
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Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Samuel Coop and Nick Golding as they look ahead to this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix! The trio discuss the fact Mercedes will introduce a major upgrades package and how Max Verstappen could be a real threat with a smooth weekend.
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