Honda pledge F1 investigation into mysterious Fernando Alonso problem

Honda has pledged that it will investigate a mysterious issue with Fernando Alonso's engine after he claimed his turbo was "broken" in the Singapore GP. 

After qualifying at Marina Bay, Alonso reported that he was to take a grid penalty for a fresh turbo unit after the component he had used in the session was "broken" and required a change.

This was made for the grand prix, with Alonso finishing outside the points on a weekend the Aston Martin was expected to perform well, given the lack of power sensitivity demanded in Singapore.

Honda did recently introduce its second ADUO-boosted engine, with a new turbo being deployed for Lance Stroll in Spain and then Alonso in Azerbaijan as Honda tries to overcome issues with drivability from its unit, something with which it has struggled all season. 

When presented with Alonso's claim that the engine was "broken" during his traditional media briefing with team representative Mike Krack, Honda's chief trackside engineer Shintaro Orihara rejected the claim - but pledged the root cause of the issue would be investigated before F1's return in the United States.

"It was not broken, but we decided to change the components based on Fernando's feedback," Orihara told media, including RacingNews365. 

"On the data, we still haven't seen any big issues, but again, the driver is the best sensor, and so we decided to change the unit based on this comment.

"We gathered data in the race, and then we also have data running with other components in qualifying, so we will bring that data and check it carefully in the factory. 

"We fortunately have two weeks, so we will check everything to make sure our components are working correctly.

"We need to do some fine-tuning for drivability and boost, and I believe another manufacturer is also trying to tune to get drivability and boost, and not performance coming from the power itself and energy management."

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