Honda wary of Austria challenge

Honda motorsport boss Yasuhisa Arai admits the Austrian Grand Prix is likely to be another challenging race for the engine manufacturer.

Despite updating its power unit ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, Honda struggled with fuel consumption and reliability issues throughout the weekend, with both McLarens eventually retiring from the race.

The Red Bull Ring has similar circuit characteristics in terms of demands on the power unit but with the added challenge of altitude thrown in, and as a result Arai admits it could be another tough race.

"Austria's Red Bull Ring is another power circuit with long straights similar to Canada, which means that it will be tough on the power units," Arai said. "We know that our results in Canada were disappointing, so we are now working hard to analyse, correct and mitigate issues going into Austria.

"The high altitude of the track will also affect the power unit performance, and the vehicle as a whole will require good aerodynamics and downforce. The new ERS system improvements made in Canada have been made to counteract this, and will be adjusted to the new aero and chassis updates planned for Austria. We will push forward to be stronger as a team."