1
Honda's head of Formula One Yusuke Hasegawa has said that the internal combustion engine remains the focus of their upcoming engine improvements, but the manufacturer is planning on waiting before introducing their next upgrade.
The Japanese marque spent two engine upgrade tokens prior to the British Grand Prix to improve efficiency and power, but will hold off spending their remaining 10 tokens for the time being.
"We still keep trying our efforts to improving our engine, the ICE area," Hasegawa told Autosport. "We have seen some good numbers, we just need to prepare."
"Not in a couple of races but in four or five races we aim to introduce it," he added.
Hasegawa said that Honda plans to use all of their remaining tokens before the end of the season, introducing upgrades in "regular steps".
Silverstone upgrades present a minor gain
Hasegawa said that Honda's last power unit upgrade presented a gain even if it wasn't a very noticeable one.
"We definitely have some gain from the power unit," he said. "We didn't do any back to back tests so I can't tell and the driver didn't feel a big difference but it contributed to the car performance so it was good."
"Fernando [Alonso] got a very quick Q3 lap time which was eighth and although it was eliminated [for a track limits infringement] it was proof of the upgrade," he continued.
Despite the deficit to their rivals, Hasegawa is confident Honda can close the gap to Renault, Ferrari, and Mercedes.
"We are bottom of the pile but we can reduce the gap," he said.
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
M. Verstappen
C. Sainz jr
C. Leclerc
Bahrain
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street Circuit
Australia
Albert Park
Japan
Circuit Suzuka
United States of America
Miami International Autodrome
Monaco
Monte Carlo
Canada
Gilles Villeneuve
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
Austria
Red Bull Ring
United Kingdom
Silverstone
Hungary
Hungaroring
Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps
Netherlands
Circuit Zandvoort
Italy
Monza
Azerbaijan
Baku City Circuit
Singapore
Marina Bay Street Circuit
United States of America
Circuit of the Americas
Mexico
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Brazil
Interlagos
United States of America
Las Vegas Street Circuit
United Arab Emirates
Yas Marina Circuit
184,623 comments on Aston Martin
78 members have this team as their favourite
Tweets about Fernando Alonso
601,300 comments on Mercedes 56 members have this team as their favourite Tweets about Mercedes
Replies (1)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Probably a wise choice. A good ICE upgrade will also lead to better harvesting for the electric unit. I wonder if they intend to duplicate that feature Mercedes and the others have in their ICEs.