they were one of the only, if not the only team, to have pushed development of their 2016 challenger all the way to the last race in 2016, so in hindsight and all things being equal, it should be expected that they would be, compared to the other teams who shifted focus towards 2017 much earlier, behind at this point.
add to that, the aggressive approach that Honda has taken...i would say that being behind is the natural outcome rather then it being squarely an issue of a poorly run 2017 program (although one cannot discount that possibility either).
given how much they progressed over the course of 2016 i think its fair to say that there should still be optimism that they will improve.
i think we will see a very different team by May/start on the European season in Barcelona.
