Honda’s Head of F1 Project & Executive Chief Engineer Yusuke Hasegawa believes the biggest challenge coming up for the next Grand Prix in Austria is the high altitude of the circuit.
“One of the biggest challenges for us is the high altitude.” said Hasegawa. “The circuit is around 700m (2,297 ft) above sea level, and the turbo will, therefore, have to spin at a much higher rate to produce the same amount of power.
“The efficiency of deployment will also be affected. Our strategy for the energy management will be key for the race.” he added.
In year that has seen Honda fail to live up to expectations once again, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix offered some solice.
“At the previous round in Azerbaijan, we were able to bank our first points of the year and I think it brought some brightness into our team.
“We also tested the updated PU, the Spec Three, with Fernando on Friday and we were able to confirm some progress in terms of the power output.
“We have proceeded with the mapping back at the factory utilising the data we collected, and we are going to bring the Spec Three for both drivers this weekend.”
Hasegawa remains hopeful as the McLaren team looks to build upon the last outing with the new improvements.
“I think we have some improvements in our competitiveness and I am looking forward to seeing our performance in Austria.
“We will not stop our preparation until the last minutes, and I hope we have a good race to reflect our progress.”
