Have Honda found a break through?

McLaren will be desperate to know if they have found a break through with Honda for the 2016 season.

But unsurprisingly, on this occasions they are playing down reports of a significant performance boost.

When McLaren dumped Mercedes, the premier power unit on the grid, for Honda, a manufacturer returning from the Formula One wilderness, they over played their potential.

The safer bet would have been to declare that the new partnership was going to take time to flourish, but the short term pain would be worth it for the long term gain as McLaren were unlikely to be able to compete for race victories and championships as a customer of Mercedes.

However, McLaren and Honda appeared to underestimate the task in hand and despite signing up a dream pairing of two-time Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso and one-time Formula One World Champion Jenson Button, the pair suffered a humbling 2015.

Everyone, with the possible exception of rivals Mercedes and Ferrari would like to see a renaissance for McLaren, none more so in Spain where a fanatical fan base follow Alonso.

So it’s unsurprising that report from the Spanish media would suggest positive news for McLaren going into 2016.

Spanish tabloid newspaper AS have suggested that ‘the new Honda will have 223 horsepower more than that of 2015.’

AS report that Honda have found this additional performance by relocating the energy recovery system [ERS] cooling system which will gain 163 horsepower and an additional 70 horsepower from the combustion engine.

Honda however have played down the reports when questioned by Sky Sports.

‘Recent media reports have suggested a huge horsepower boost for McLaren-Honda in 2016. These reports are unsubstantiated and merely speculative, and we ask fans and media alike to treat them as such.’