Honda were pleased to have had no particular issues hit any of their cars during Friday practice, after a few hiccups over the course of the first two races in Bahrain and Imola. Honda boss Toyoharu Tanabe explained on Friday that the engine manufacturer have no real cause for concern about reliability issues with AlphaTauri, in particular, requiring new engine components. With no issues on Friday in Portugal, as well as Red Bull's Max Verstappen finishing in second place and just a tenth off the leading pace, Tanabe said it was a particularly good first day. "This was our smoothest Friday of the season so far and all four of our drivers completed a respectable number of laps," Tanabe explained to media. "With no real issues, we acquired plenty of useful information, which is important, because we have less data from this track compared to others, as we only raced here once before. "Also, last year, the track surface was brand new and that too has changed in the past few months. Therefore we will now analyse every aspect of our performance in order to optimise our settings for qualifying and the race. "In the two races so far this season, it has been a very close battle between our teams and their closest competitors and we can expect the same again this weekend. As always, we will be pushing hard for the best possible result with all four cars."
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