Important update showed McLaren progress – Honda – Racer

Honda's update at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was crucial in terms of showing McLaren that progress is being made, according to Yusuke Hasegawa.

Fernando Alonso ran an upgraded Honda power unit during Friday practice which showed improved performance, but did not race the new specification due to over-revving caused by a gearbox failure in FP2. With the likes of Zak Brown and Eric Boullier saying they are satisfied with the effort being put in by Honda but that they want to see progress, head of F1 project Hasegawa believes the initial signs from Baku were positive.

"Of course it is encouraging but still that gain is not big enough to catch up with the top runners," Hasegawa told RACER. "Obviously it is good progress to close the gap to the other teams. So of course it is a very good thing.

"As I said, [McLaren] are not very excited because it is not a huge upgrade to catch up with the frontrunners, but of course they are pleased.

"It is very important that we can show them that we have some progress, although we didn't achieve the complete target yet."

Hasegawa added that the upgraded power unit delivered what was expected during Friday practice, adding after Alonso's ninth-place finish: "If we had the spec three engine I think we could have protected from [Carlos] Sainz [for P8]."

Hasegawa also explained he did not see any damage to the latest specification of power unit in Baku despite the gearbox failure on Alonso's car, and expects both drivers to use the upgrade in Austria next weekend.

"[In Baku] we didn't see any issues but we will check the engine back in Sakura again. It should be all right, so we are supposed to introduce spec three engines for both drivers.

"I hope [we will have spares] but still... Even if we don't have a spare engine there is no option, we need to bring the two spec three engines."

Stoffel Vandoorne has only used three internal combustion engines so far this season, meaning he will receive the upgrade without having to take a penalty. Vandoorne and Alonso both had large grid penalties in Azerbaijan as a result of new power unit components.

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Important update showed McLaren progress - Honda - Racer