Honda chief Yusuke Hasegawa thinks the Japanese manufacturer could be on a par with Ferrari were it not constrained by the engine token system.
Despite showing clear progress this season Honda remains firmly in the midfield, with McLaren eighth in the constructors' championship. It entered the V6 turbo era a year later than Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault but has been constrained by the same system, which this year gives each team 32 tokens to develop certain parts of the engine.
The token system has been dropped for 2017 but Hasegawa says the presence of it this year is delaying Honda's first 2016 upgrade.
"It is difficult to say but technically speaking our designs are -- I can't say the number -- but almost based on the same as the Ferrari level of engine," Hasegawa told F1i. "Although we are not achieving that at the moment.
"So if we didn't have the tokens and we were just adding more parts we could achieve that level I think. But currently to achieve this level we need more than 40 or 50 tokens. So that's why we have to wait and have to choose which upgrade will be very effective to close the gap."
Unlike Honda, Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault have all spent at least one token since the beginning of the season, with the latter set to introduce another upgrade in Monaco or Canada after successful tests in Barcelona this week.
Explaining his point further, Hasegawa said: "As a variation point of view I have a lot of [upgrade] options, but it isn't very big so I don't want to choose that kind of option. At the moment I am hesitating from introducing that kind of option by using tokens. That's the reason."
Asked if the upgrades which are ready would already have been introduced if there was no token system in place, Hasegawa replied: "Definitely, yes."