Honda will introduce a new specification of its power unit at Aston Martin during the Formula 1 Dutch GP. The confirmation was made by Shintaro Orihara, general manager of track operations and chief engineer of the Japanese manufacturer, who revealed that the update will arrive after two more rounds.
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In Honda’s preview for the Belgian GP, Orihara explained that the team intends to take advantage of the remaining races to gather information before the debut of the new package. “We have two more races before introducing the new engine. It is important to continue learning from this current specification to carry that knowledge about energy management to the next races, like Monza, where there are also long straights,” he said.
The update is considered important for Aston Martin, which is facing a difficult season. The team has been fighting for the last positions on the grid only with Cadillac, and the only point scored by Fernando Alonso happened at the Monaco GP, in a race marked by unusual circumstances, when the Spaniard was only in 14th position eight laps from the finish.
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Honda’s power unit was identified as the least competitive on the grid within the ADUO mechanism (Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities), created precisely to allow extra evolution for manufacturers with the greatest performance gap. Therefore, the brand will use this possibility to introduce the update in Zandvoort, right after the Formula 1 summer break.
Before that, the expectation is for another difficult weekend for Aston Martin in Belgium and also in Hungary. Orihara highlighted that Spa-Francorchamps will require special attention to energy management. “Spa will be a test for manufacturers in terms of energy management, so we need to consider how we will use the MGU-K power on the long straights. Energy recovery here is quite limited, even considering the length of the circuit. This makes it even more important to get the energy usage plan right. The straights also demand a lot from the power unit, not only in performance but also in reliability,” he said. He also warned about another challenge: “The other unknown is the circuit’s unstable weather. At Silverstone it stayed dry, so Spa might be the first time we have really wet conditions during a session. In terms of weather, anything can happen here.”
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