Exclusive: Honda deliver insight into engine upgrade ahead of Dutch GP debut

Honda chief F1 engineer Shintaro Orihara has offered insight into the upgraded engine that will break cover at Zandvoort this weekend.

The Japanese manufacturer has endured a challenging opening half to the campaign in partnership with Aston Martin, who has faced setbacks of its own.

Aston Martin brought a significant upgrade package to Hungary last month and uncovered notable lap time to take a small step up the pecking order, having languished at the rear for most of the first half.

It now looks to Honda to bring its first major update of the year, which it hopes will inspire another jump up the competitive ladder at this weekend's Dutch Grand Prix.

Offering an insight into what it has focused on changing, Orihara exclusively told RacingNews365: “Our biggest weakness point is power performance. So we focused on improving engine performance in the new engine. 

“We just purely focused on improving engine performance from the new spec engine and to build up drivability based on combustion characteristics. 

“We learned a lot of things from this spec engine, so some of the knowledge we can transfer from this engine to the new engine.

“But the new engine has new combustion characteristics. So we build up our drivability quality again, but we [already] have a lot of learning. 

“We don't start from point zero. So the first focus point is performance, then drivability we just keep improving through the event.”

Aston Martin has scored just one point so far this season, courtesy of Fernando Alonso, who finished 10th in Monaco.

While both Alonso and team-mate Lance Stroll have been left frustrated by the lack of pace in the car, the team has praised the duo for pushing its development.

Honda also signalled the importance of their feedback.

“It's important to find the compromise point in how we react to drivers' requests or complaints and how we focus our development programme,” Oriahara said.

“And then again, our main weak point is performance. So we focus on developing engine performance on the factory side, but at track side, we can tune the parameters to improve drivability or energy management for the drivers' requests.

“Also, we have been communicating with the factory side. This is an important item for driver to find lap time. 

“Then the factory reacts to solve that issue. So that is a way to find the compromise point.”