(Motorsport-Total.com) – Expectations were high: Honda brought the revised power unit for the first time to the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort. However, the balance after the weekend was mixed, even though Fernando Alonso was able to achieve the best season result so far with ninth place.
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“We introduced an engine with a new specification in the Netherlands and observed a performance jump as we expected based on our measurements,” confirms Honda chief engineer Shintaro Orihara when asked by Motorsport.com, a sister platform of Motorsport-Total.com in the Motorsport Network.
“We were able to confirm what we saw on the test bench, so that was a positive insight from the Netherlands.” However, the Japanese engine manufacturer was not completely satisfied, as the race weekend in Zandvoort also showed that there is still work ahead for the team.
“On the other hand, we found some things that we need to improve in terms of drivability. We updated our combustion characteristics and then prepared the data settings and tools to adapt to this new characteristic and achieve better drivability,” says Orihara.
Better drivability in focus of improvements
“But that was not enough to satisfy the drivers. So that is definitely our point of improvement that we identified in the Netherlands.” Apparently, the feeling that Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll get from the new power unit does not meet expectations.
However, this is not surprising: The Honda chief engineer had already announced at the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa that after the introduction of the first ADUO upgrade on the track, more work would be needed. Honda has already completed part of this in the one and a half weeks since Zandvoort.
“We brought all the data and all the feedback from the drivers back to the test bench. Some tests were carried out at HRC Sakura to improve our control and achieve better drivability. The main focus this weekend will therefore be to confirm these countermeasures in Monza.”
How the power unit affects drivability
When asked what exactly the problems with drivability are, the Honda chief engineer explains that it is a complex interplay of various factors. “When you talk about drivability, it includes gear shifts and combustion stability during the braking phase, but also in the engine braking phase and during torque pickup.”
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“Many things flow into drivability, and we have to improve the entire area,” says Orihara. “The main problem is how we control our combustion and how we achieve stable combustion. That is the most important point we focus on to improve our drivability overall.”
While Honda is mainly looking for more stability with the new combustion characteristic, Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack emphasizes that drivability is also closely related to the chassis. “Drivability is not just a power unit issue, drivability is also a chassis issue.”
Power unit closely linked to chassis
“That is why we have to work together here and try to understand everything,” says the native Luxembourger. “You want to achieve the optimum, but you also want to be consistent – at different levels of recuperation, with different braking effects, and when downshifting. That is not an easy task.”
“I believe this is something every team learns from and that every team really has to optimize for every section of the track. When we talk about drivability at the end of the day, we must not only look at the power unit but at the big picture. All elements of the chassis and the power unit play a role in this.”
If these aspects improve, Honda believes it can extract a bit more performance from the Zandvoort upgrade. However, a huge leap is not expected because no further hardware changes are planned for the time being.
“Nevertheless, we think that by optimizing the data, we still have some room to improve performance,” says Krack. “We brought some calibration changes for this track to maximize our performance, but it will not be a big change, just pure optimization.”
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