Honda will use some of their remaining seven development tokens on
‘design and architecture’ changes ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix.
McLaren will be hoping that the changes to the engine will see an improved performance around Spa as both Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button have both struggled this season.
The Spaniard and British driver have three Formula One World titles between them and 47 Grand Prix victories, but this season they have just 17 points in total between them and 12 of those only came in the last race at Hungary!
They have been on a PR exercise all season and have said all the right things, but their frustrations will be clear to their nearest and dearest.
They will be desperate for these improvements to make the McLaren Honda project competitive.
On to many occasions this season the McLaren has either been unreliable or it’s been too slow, but now McLaren believe that they can begin to improve the performance and ultimately get faster.
?I am confident that our reliability problems are now behind us which means we can turn our attention to increasing power. After the summer shutdown our plan is to apply a new spec. engine using some of our remaining seven tokens,? Honda?s motorsport chief Yasuhisa Arai told Sky Sports.
?The most important area for us to concentrate on is the combustion. Current regulations require high efficiency of the combustion so we want to change the characteristic with the chamber design and intake and exhaust system layout. Another issue we will be addressing is reducing mechanical friction by changing the gear train system along with the combustion.
?Not all of our upgrades will be in place for the Belgium Grand Prix; some parts will be applied for Spa and the rest during the weeks that follow. Our plan is to keep improving race-by-race for the remainder of the season.?
Honda to spend tokens
