Honda satisfied: 'Red Bull always listens to us'

"I’m having a very good experience with Red Bull, they are very mature – and they never give up," Tanabe is quoted by GP Racing. The top man argues that Red Bull always give their full 100 per cent, even if it's only about the smallest performance gains. "So, every single area to improve their performance they don’t leave, so it means they push very hard to achieve every single improvement."

Honda happy with Red Bull

It also means that the Austrian racing stable can be quite demanding at times, but the conversations that take place are always constructive. "They share their ideas and sometimes they push us – but they don’t tell us ‘do it’. We always discuss, between chassis side and PU side, what is the best compromise? Then we achieve the best compromise package. So, they listen to us, we listen to them. We are very comfortable," he says, explaining the collaboration.

Red Bull received a lot of criticism after their farewell to Renault. The team of Christian Horner and Helmut Marko was blamed a lot by the French engine supplier, but Honda experiences something else. "From my experience with Red Bull they always listen to us and then discuss. Maybe they have a different style in the past. If you have open mind, [you can] work together, closely, successful. But if you open your mind but one side don’t open their mind, it [will] never happen", Tanabe says. In any case, the Japanese stress that the cooperation with Honda is experienced as very pleasant.