Honda confirm F1 power unit upgrade for Dutch Grand Prix to aid Aston Martin recovery

Honda has confirmed that it will bring a much-anticipated power unit upgrade to the Dutch Grand Prix in late August. 

Honda trackside general manager Shintaro Orihara has revealed details of the upgraded power unit that it will run for the first time at Zandvoort. 

With the Dutch Grand Prix weekend running to a Sprint format, that means that there will be no time to fix any teething problems before going into Sprint Qualifying on the Friday afternoon. 

After Aston Martin team principal Adrian Newey confirmed earlier this week that the team will bring a major chassis upgrade to the Hungarian Grand Prix, the weekend before the shutdown, with this latest confirmation meaning that the updates can be judged separately. 

"I kept saying summer, but that's maybe the boring answer," said Orihara. "So, I'll say our target is the Netherlands. So we are working, uh, hard to complete our job list to achieve, uh, bringing new power unit to the Netherlands. That is our target.

Asked by Crash.net for details of the alterations, Orihara added: "Purely, internal. 

"Let's say, our focus point is to improve engine performance. So we are working on the combustion chamber shape, and also we modified pre-chamber, and also, we will change the combustion chamber shape to improve our combustion performance. 

"Also, we are working to reduce friction by modifying the lubrication system. And also, of course, to improve the reliability, because if we increase performance, we need to increase reliability. So still we have quite a big list to complete, but we are working hard to achieve this by the Netherlands."

Honda gained the most development tokens of any power unit manufacturer through the ADUO system, which judged the Red Bull power unit to be the benchmark on the current grid. 

Asked how many 'jokers' the manufacturer is using on its current upgrades, Orihara said: "I can't explain in detail how many, but, we have a big list. So we will bring many updates to the Netherlands. So, I can't say how many but, quite big parts we will modify."

What does Honda hope to fix with F1 upgrades

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll have both been increasingly vocal about the lack of upgrades at Aston Martin this term, with chassis considerable upgrades being fielded across the field, and Ferrari quick to bring its power unit update to the Austrian Grand Prix last week. 

For Honda, the focus is clear, that current issues must be resolved with the new package, but also that there must be a marked improvement in performance.

"The new power unit is purely focused on improving performance, but we changed the combustion characteristic; we need to optimise our data setting again to optimise drivability," said Orihara. "So now we are working to improve drivability in this power unit. And that methodology will be carried over to the new power unit to optimise setting."

Pressed on the horsepower improvement, he added: "I know the number, uh, from dyno, but I can't disclose the number. But we are aiming to get some reasonable big step rather than bring small step. But I would say there is no magic in Formula 1. So I don't think we're going to catch up, uh, let's say Mercedes or RBPT by one step, but we are going to bring some reasonable big step.

"The performance development is step by step. So the Netherlands is the first step to bring some reasonable step, but we need another further step in the future to catch up with the top competitor."