Honda has responded to the ongoing rumors about the upgrades for the Aston Martin power unit. After a filming day of the British team at the Hungaroring, it was repeatedly mentioned that Honda had found about 50bhp – comparable to 50hp – of power. According to top executive Shinharo Orihara, however, that number is a bit on the high side: ‘That is not the actual power’.
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Aston Martin brought a major aerodynamic upgrade package for the first time this season to the recent Hungarian GP. It was no luxury for the team, which with just 1 meager championship point to their name so far almost consistently starts at the back of the grid. For Aston Martin – who finished thirteenth and fourteenth with drivers Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso at the Hungaroring – the upgrades were a step in the right direction, and the team is already working on the next package.
After the last race before the summer break, Aston Martin decided to stay at the Hungaroring to test the new Honda power unit during a filming day. The first sounds were promising, and it was immediately rumored that the Japanese engine supplier had found about 30 to 50hp.
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“I would like to have that power, but that is quite a high power,” responded Honda chief engineer Shinharo Orihara when presented with the reported power of 50bhp. “I can’t go into detail about the power, but my feeling just tells me: no, I don’t think… that is the actual power.”
Split upgrades
The upgrades to the Honda power unit follow after Aston Martin already worked on the AMR26 ahead of the race in Hungary. According to Orihara, this ‘split’ of the upgrades is not a problem. “From a logistical point of view, I see no reason to split the timing, and also from a technical point of view, I don’t have much objection to that, but we can certainly learn something before we introduce the new power unit,” he explained. “That is a positive point for us. The main goal is therefore to collect as much data as possible from Hungary before we introduce the new power unit.”
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