Honda has revealed it quietly introduced a second F1 ADUO upgrade for both Aston Martind rivers, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.
The Japanese manufacturer initially used its first ADUO token at the Dutch Grand Prix, where, coupled with the already introduced new chassis, Alonso was able to take a season-best ninth place - scoring two points.
As the partnership has continued to struggle, one area Honda has sought to improve is the driveability of its RA626H power unit - which chief engineer Shintaro Orihara has revealed was targeted through the use of the second ADUO token in the Spanish and Azerbaijan GPs - with Stroll and Alonso receiving a new turbocharger, respectively.
Whilst it was publicly known that a new turbocharger had been taken in the FIA document, unless a team officially confirms a new specification has been taken, this is not disclosed.
"Zandvoort is the first event where we introduced the spec 2 engine; then we believe there was still room to improve performance by changing calibration, and we have been working on the area to improve performance," explained Orihara to media, including RacingNews365.
"It's not a big improvement from calibration, but we keep working to find some small performance gain.
"In Madrid and also Baku, we introduced an updated turbocharger using ADUO 2. We found some room to improve boost [and reduce turbo lag], the main effect on driveability.
"So we introduced an updated turbocharger to improve boost following, and we confirmed the effect in Baku, where boost following is quite important.
"We used the second ADUO to introduce the new turbocharger to improve driveability, and if we have boost lag at the exit of a corner, we could also have engine torque lag.
"Then we need to use MGU-K to compensate that torque lag, and that sacrifices some energy which we wanted to use.
"So the updated turbocharger will help driveability but also give us some gain on energy management.
"Still, I'm talking about a big number; it is still a small number, but we will keep pushing to find that type of small improvement."
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Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding as they look back on the Azerbaijan GP but also look ahead to F1's return this weekend to Malaysia! Rumours linking Christian Horner with a return to the sport is a major talking point.
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