Honda makes major ‘new spec’ Aston Martin confirmation for Dutch GP
Fernando Alonso will have a Honda power unit upgrade at his disposal at Zandvoort.
Honda trackside general manager and chief engineer, Shintaro Orihara, has said the introduction of a significant power unit upgrade for Aston Martin is an “important milestone” for the manufacturer.
Aston Martin introduced an effective B-spec chassis in Hungary before the summer break, with a 16-part update coming to the AMR26, which will now be complemented with updated Honda power.
Honda confirms ‘new spec’ power unit upgrade at Dutch GP
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Having suffered teething problems with its chassis and power unit integration, as well as a power deficit to its rivals, Honda and Aston Martin have been collaborating to improve its joint package as the team looks to claw its way back into contention.
While the new chassis played its part in Hungary, with Fernando Alonso making it through to Q2 for the first time this season, a power unit update is another significant step in the team’s goals.
Honda and Aston Martin broke cover with the new engine at a filming day prior to the summer shutdown, which gave the team up to 200km of running to gather information.
Despite this next step marking what both Honda and Aston Martin hope will be another marker of progress, only having one hour of free practice – due to a Sprint weekend in the Netherlands – may also prove an obstacle.
“The Dutch Grand Prix is an important milestone for Honda as this is where we introduce our new spec power unit,” Orihara said ahead of the weekend.
“This is the result of an intense period of hard work at HRC Sakura together with HRC UK and the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team.
“Zandvoort is a Sprint weekend, which means we only have a single free practice session. This will bring an additional challenge to complete the evaluation of our new package in that limited running, but it’s a test we’re looking forward to.
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“In Hungary, we saw a step forward with the new chassis. With the new specification power unit now introduced, we look forward to building on that progress together with the team over the remainder of the season.”
While as much as 50bhp had been rumoured to have been gained in its new power unit, Orihara previously played down those claims, believing it to be “not the real number” of its performance improvement.
Aston Martin heads into the weekend off the back of its best combined result of the season with its two cars, with Lance Stroll and Alonso having finished 13th and 14th respectively in Budapest.
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