Honda says the difference between a good or bad result for McLaren at this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix will depend on the driveability of the car.
At the Spanish Grand Prix, Jenson Button's McLaren was close to undriveable, leading him to describe the first half of the race as "the scariest 30 laps of my life". However, Honda is determined to get on top of its problems this weekend and deliver a power unit that produces predictable and accessible power.
"Monaco has multiple low- to mid-speed turns, braking and acceleration, with a unique street circuit layout," Honda motorsport boss Yasuhisa Arai said. "The fine line between success and failure on this track will be the driveability of the car.
"Honda will do our utmost to fine-tune the driveability of the power unit to match each turn during all 78 laps of the race, the highest numbers of laps of the season."
McLaren racing director Eric Boullier said the performance of Fernando Alonso's car at the last grand prix was encouraging until a brake failure forced the Spaniard to retire.
"After the disappointment of Barcelona, the whole team is looking forward to Monaco, to put the last race behind us and keep working on improving our package. Barcelona is a gruelling track for a Formula One car, so our relative performance was encouraging until we discovered the problem with Fernando's brake overheating. We were certainly unlucky, but we're still able to take with us some positives and focus our attention on our next challenge - Monaco. It's a tough, demanding street circuit that requires teams to take a totally different approach, but that's what makes it even more special.
"The nature of Monaco's narrow streets means there's less focus on outright power and more on driveability and balance. On this circuit there are even more factors at play than elsewhere - traffic, Safety Cars, unusual strategies - so our first target is to maximise our performance on Saturday. Qualifying positions can often dictate the outcome of a race there as overtaking is so difficult, so it's important we focus our efforts there first and foremost."