Orihara: In Japan, we are still not reaching the necessary level.

      Honda's engineers continue to take measures aimed at addressing the shortcomings of the power units used by the Aston Martin team, and while problems still persist, some progress has been made. Ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, this was shared by Shintaro Orihara, chief engineer and head of the Honda Racing team: "In China, we managed to make progress in terms of improving battery reliability by reducing the level of vibrations affecting all systems; however, we need to develop more effective solutions to identify the cause of the vibrations that impact the drivers. Between the races in China and Japan, we continued to make every effort to enhance reliability, but the performance of the power unit is still not at the level we want to achieve. This primarily relates to the operation of the hybrid system and energy consumption management. Suzuka is quite a challenging track in this regard, but we are using the information gathered in Australia and China to prepare as best as we can for the Japanese Grand Prix. This weekend, we still won't be able to reach the desired level, but we continue to work hard to achieve improvements. We look forward to meeting the Japanese audience and Honda fans – we want them to see that since the preseason tests in Bahrain, we have made certain progress."