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One year ago, Honda returned to its home race at Suzuka knowing it was going to struggle. Over the course of the season its engines had proved to be down on power and woefully unreliable -- expectations were low. On paper, therefore, Fernando Alonsos 11th place might not have been a disaster, but in the glorious high definition of Formula Ones world feed, the reality of how Alonso ended up 11th made painful viewing.GP2 engine! GP2 engine! Agggh! Alonso yelled over the team radio as the Toro Rosso of Max Verstappen breezed past him into Turn 1. Roughly 20 laps earlier he had been passed in the same manner by the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson, laying bare the deficiencies of Hondas energy deployment on the run down to Turn 1. The problems were clear to everyone and Alonso, in his words, was telling it like it was.The engine last year was not ready to compete, he said a week ago when reminded of his outburst. I said in all the interviews from the beginning of the year that our boss from Honda [Yasuhisa Arai] was saying the project was immature and we were learning a lot of things. And this was the process to improve the engine, so I was not saying anything differently [on the radio]. This year we are all saying the same thing, which is that we have made a lot of progress, we are happy with the direction and we are able to compete with all the other teams.What a difference those 12 months have made. In that time the power unit has matured significantly and a strong points finish this weekend is a realistic goal rather than a hopeful one. Yusuke Hasegawa, the man who replaced Arai as the boss of Hondas F1 project, says recent results back up his companys ambitions.Of course Suzuka is very important, and after Spa and Monza, McLaren-Honda is expecting to get better results, he told ESPN. I think its a fair comment that we can expect better than Spa and Monza [in Suzuka], and showing a good result is very important for the fans and internally at Honda for next year so we can accelerate the programme. But its not just inside Honda, its for the Japanese fans to motivate the support of Hondas activity -- it is very important to get a good result.Realising potentialHasegawa replaced Arai at the start of the year in part of a company-wide management reshuffle. The recovery from that painfully difficult first season was already underway, but it has been Hasegawas job to turn that recovery into results.Last year, Arai-San was struggling to build up the team and the organisation of it, so he succeeded that job to me and my job is to complete the team, he says. We need to be able to see that progress from outside, which means we need to get some points and also some better qualifying position. Although we cant be satisfied with our current performance, my job is to maximise the performance and to eliminate any tiny error to get concrete results.Its no secret that Honda was underprepared last year, but what is often overlooked is the scale of the project it was taking on. After six years away from the paddock, the Japanese manufacturer was returning to the most complex set of engine regulations the sport has ever known and it was doing so one full season later than the competition. Essentially it had to start from scratch and learn the hard way, but Hasegawa says those lessons have been part of the maturation process for the Honda engineers.Of course the performance, the knowledge and the skill we didnt have [last year], but we have seen after one year our young engineers have grown up very much. It is very good, but still we are behind the other teams, so we need to catch up.A fair bit of catching up has already been done. After just a couple of races this year, it became clear that Hondas second attempt at the regulations was already more powerful than the year-old Ferrari engine in the Toro Rosso, meaning it had reached the same level of performance at the start of its second year that Ferrari had achieved at the end of its. Of course, Ferrari and the rest of the field had taken another step since, but it went some way to answering the critics from the first year. Whats more, Hasegawa claims Honda had not broken new ground with the power unit over the winter but instead started to realise the potential that had previously been masked by reliability issues.From a result point of view, it is fair comment [to say we are ahead of last years Ferrari], but from a technical performance point of view, I dont think we have made a big gain [this year]. We struggled to maximise our performance last year because we had so many errors or issues at the circuit. That was the reason we couldnt prove where we were last year, I think.We are now at a good level [of reliability], but still we need to improve more because we have already retired nine times in the last year. Of course some have been due to crashes, on Fernandos car and Jensons car, but also we have had some mechanical issues as well, which I think is one of the worst [failure] numbers among the teams. So definitely we have improved to a much better point than last year, but we need to be more stable with reliability.Fixing the problems of 2015The main performance issues last year were related to inefficiencies in the design of the power units turbine and MGU-H. In races the lack of supplementary energy recovered by the MGU-H from the turbine meant the Energy Recovery System would deplete its battery power on long straights and leave the drivers significantly down on power at the end of long straights -- making them sitting ducks for rivals to overtake. Overcoming that issue has been a big step for Honda this year, but it has not been a magic bullet. The V6 internal combustion engine is still down on power compared to Hondas rivals and despite a significant upgrade at the Belgian Grand Prix this year, the focus for improvement for the upcoming winter is clear.The main area [of focus for 2017] is combustion, Hasegawa says. We have to improve the combustion -- the energy itself.I think the deployment level is almost as good as other top teams, so from a deployment point of view we are satisfied with that. But technically speaking, the engine power is still behind.But if we improve our engine performance, which will be with a more efficient engine, then it will be less exhaust gas energy, so we need more effort to keep that deployment level [at a satisfactory level] if we have a better engine.Free from tokensOne factor that is expected to help Honda next year is the scrapping of the token system. The cost-saving measure was designed to limit the amount of performance upgrades manufacturers could bring to their power units over the course of the season in the hope of preventing an engineering arms race. But Hasegawa says it is the ideas behind the upgrades and not the system that polices them that will ultimately dictate whether Honda can catch up.Even without tokens it is not very easy to catch up with other teams, he said. But, of course, if we knew everything [about how to improve], then even with the token system I think we can catch up. Of course, it will be nicer without tokens so that we have no limitations to modify.Ultimately, Hondas success is going to come down to the people it has employed and the ideas they can realise in next years power unit. In its first year, the Japanese manufacturer was criticised for not employing knowledge from elsewhere in the paddock, but Hasegawa says that has not been the case this year and new people are bringing ideas from outside its Sakura base to complement those generated within.I am one of those [new] people and Honda has tried to change our team, so to do that we have invited a lot of people [to join], also from the outside. We also brought in some consultant from outside the company.Some of the new ideas we have introduced this year, but most of the technology we have learned this year is for next year. We need to take some time to absorb that technology.Turning Hondas F1 project around was never going to be the work of the moment, but the gains made this year have already manifested in results on track. Its rivals are not going to stand still, but there is an overwhelming sense that there is more to come in next year as the changes that have been put in place this season start to filter through. Suzuka in 2017 could be a very different prospect again. Clearance NCAA Jerseys . -- Cam Newton pranced into the end zone, placed his hands over his chest and did his familiar Superman pose. NCAA Jerseys China . -- Jonathan Drouin gave Halifax the boost it needed to edge host Sherbrooke Phoenix 3-2 in a shootout in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. https://www.chinajerseysncaa.us/ . JOHNS, N. Cheap Football NCAA Jerseys . The Masters champion and winner of last weeks Australian PGA has a three-round total of 14-under 199 at Royal Melbourne. "Im in a really good position for tomorrow," Scott said. Wholesale NCAA Jerseys China . The Montreal Canadiens announced on Friday that the veteran forward will return to the teams line-up on Saturday night when the Habs visit the Nashville Predators. RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes have placed backup goalie Eddie Lack on injured reserve with a concussion and called up veteran Michael Leighton to replace him.General manager Ron Francis announced the moves Monday night, after Lack was injured during practice earlier in the day.The 35-year-old Leighton is 6-2-1 in 10 appearances with Carolinas AHL affiliate in Charlotte. His career record in the NHL is 35-41-4, thoough he has only played three NHL games since the 2009-10 season.ddddddddddddThe Hurricanes signed him during the offseason to provide depth behind Lack and Cam Ward, who has taken control of the position. Ward has won four straight games and last week went 3-0-0 with a 1.01 goals-against average. ' ' '