Honda is preparing an important change for Aston Martin in Formula 1. The Japanese manufacturer will introduce its new power unit at the Dutch GP in Zandvoort for Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.
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This news comes after Aston Martin brought a significant chassis update to the Hungarian GP. On that occasion, Alonso advanced to Q2 for the first time this season, a sign of progress after a first half of the year marked by difficulties related to the chassis and power unit.
Honda’s plan was to introduce the new specification after the car update, and the chosen moment will be especially demanding as it is a weekend with a Sprint format. Before the official debut, the new power unit was already used in a filming day held after the Hungarian GP.
Shintaro Orihara, Honda’s general manager of track operations, described the Zandvoort round as a milestone for the manufacturer: “The Dutch GP is an important milestone for Honda, as it is here that we introduce our new power unit specification,” he said.
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According to him, the project was developed after an intense period of work involving HRC Sakura, HRC UK, and Aston Martin. Orihara also highlighted the additional difficulty caused by the event format: “Zandvoort is a Sprint weekend, which means we have only one free practice session. This will bring an additional challenge to complete the evaluation of our new package with this limited track time,” he added.
Honda intends to take advantage of the progress made with the new chassis to accelerate the team’s development in the second half of the season: “In Hungary, we saw a step forward with the new chassis. With the new power unit specification now introduced, we hope to develop this progress together with the team for the rest of the season,” Orihara concluded.
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