Honda revealed how much they expect to recover.
At the Dutch Grand Prix, Honda brought an updated version of the power unit. According to various sources, the new unit could provide an increase in power of up to 30 hp, and Aston Martin hopes to start regularly fighting for points from this stage onward. On Thursday in Zandvoort, Honda Racing's chief engineer and team leader Shintaro Orihara shared additional information about the new unit and asked not to raise expectations too high. Shintaro Orihara: "I can't say exactly how much this update will reduce the gap. In Formula 1, we need to be realistic, as it's impossible to just bring some magical update. We believe this update will allow us to make a good step forward. Of course, we still have a gap from competitors who can fight at the front, but before the Hungarian Grand Prix, Aston Martin introduced major updates to their car. In Formula 1, every 50 or 100 milliseconds matters when it comes to improving position. I believe our update will help reduce lap times by about those figures. We first installed the new version of the power unit on the car during a filming day in Hungary at the beginning of the summer break. This was the first time the new engine specification worked together with the chassis, and we confirmed that the power unit functions as expected. This is a positive point. We received interesting data in terms of the car's handling. We then returned this data to the stand and optimized the settings before the Dutch stage. This was a good step forward for us. Another positive point is that we completed the entire planned program without any issues. Engine power is our weak point, so this time we focused specifically on improving efficiency. Primarily, we worked on combustion process characteristics and reducing friction to gain additional power. We didn't change anything in the software or the ERS system. But improving engine efficiency should help with power delivery. We'll see how the system works with the new version of the engine. This is the only major update to the power unit that we have prepared this season, but if we find a good solution and can improve performance with a minor adjustment, that option is still possible. However, the next major update will come in 2027."
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Honda revealed how much they expect to recover.
At the Dutch Grand Prix, Honda brought an updated version of the power unit. In Zandvoort, Honda Racing's chief engineer Shintaro Orihara shared additional information about the new product and asked not to raise expectations.
