Mercedes, Ferrari advantage explained by Honda chief

Honda say that Mercedes and Ferrari's ability to bend the rules of engine development without overstepping the mark has been a crucial factor in their dominance of Formula 1. The Japanese marque will supply Red Bull in 2019, but expect to remain off the pace of their rivals at the start of the season.

Mercedes have won the drivers' and constructors' championship each year since F1 switched to V6 Hybrid power units in 2014.

While Ferrari closed the gap last year, and arguably moved ahead of them at stages, Renault have struggled to keep pace and Honda rarely looked likely to catch up while in partnership with McLaren.

However, a year of rebuilding confidence with Toro Rosso convinced Red Bull to partner with Honda, who say they are beginning to cotton onto the methods used by F1's frontrunners to deliver more power.

Honda motorsport chief Masashi Yamamoto told Motorsport.com: "We will make a big effort during the winter, and now of course.

"At least we would like to start from third within the manufacturers, then try to catch the frontrunners up during the season.

"We are not really keen to say a specific time, but Mercedes and Ferrari have loads of knowledge of the grey areas [of the rules], so they are still ahead of us.

"But after four years of our development and trying, we think we are now finding the right direction and where to go – much clearer than last year, or two years ago.

"So we think we can speed up our development."

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