I can cope with big pressure on Honda F1 programme

Honda's reliability has been under the spotlight this season, with Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso taking huge penalties in Austria last month after exceeding their power unit allocation.

McLaren-Honda scored points for only the second time this season with Alonso's 10th place in the British Grand Prix, a race which had just 13 finishers, and the alliance lies ninth in the constructors' championship, 366 points behind leaders Mercedes.

But Arai said: "I always feel a big pressure because McLaren-Honda is a historical legend.

"We had big results and many fans of our team are pushing hard for us.

"It's a big pressure but it is comfortable. I'm very comfortable. It's comfortable for both the team and Honda."

When asked if he felt he was still fit to lead Honda following its poor performance, Arai said: "Yes."

He added: "I want to lead my programme by myself. I promise it's a long-term project for Honda.

"We must make the step we are able to take in place each year. It's a long-term project."

Arai said Honda has yet to decide its strategy for using the remainder of its token allocation, having used two already, but said there will be a greater focus on performance going forward.

"After [Silverstone], we don't decide yet when to use the remaining tokens," he said.

"We have many new items to apply to get more power and more reliability using the tokens.

"We are going to focus more on performance now, reliability is always something we look at, but performance is the focus.

"We will look to make a step in the second half of the season.

"We will update the power unit, make it more competitive and chase the cars in front."