Honda have set themselves the ambitious target of not only closing the performance gap to rivals Renault and Ferrari, but to overhaul them and match the level of the Mercedes power unit next year.
Honda's engine chief Yusuke Hasegawa admitted they're still the fourth best in terms of power, and the gap to Renault may have increased following the French manufacturer's massive Monaco upgrade, the scale and success of which surprised Honda.
"We're number four. It is Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault and then Honda," admitted to Hasegawa to Autosport.
"We have a huge gap to Renault. I've been surprised by their progress. They have done a very good job."
However Honda aren't letting that get them down and believe the removal of the token system next year will allow them to explore every possible opportunity for improvement, allowing them to achieve the current level of the Mercedes unit.
"Next year, we're aiming to achieve the level of Mercedes engine," he added. "At this moment, I don't know if that is possible but that is our aim.
"Because there are no tokens, we can search anywhere the possibility to improve and we can choose the area to modify so that give us more freedom to consider.
"The no token system removes the mental barrier for us."
