Yasuhisa Arai has confirmed Honda will bring an updated specification engine to the Belgian Grand Prix at the end of August, with the Honda Motorsport chief believing they and McLaren have solved the reliability issues that have blighted the 2015 Formula 1 season so far.
Honda have seven remaining tokens to utilise this season to update their power units, with Arai stating some of those tokens will be applied to the engine for the race in Spa-Francorchamps, with more to follow in the following races.
Both McLaren-Honda drivers are free to introduce a new power unit without penalty due to a change in the regulations last month, with both Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button looking likely to take the new upgraded engine in Belgium.
“I am confident our reliability problems are now behind us which means we can turn our attention to increasing power,” declared Arai. “After the summer shutdown our plan is to apply a new-spec engine using some of our remaining seven tokens.
“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 Belgian Grand Prix; some parts will be applied for Spa and the rest during the weeks that follow.”
