Honda motorsport boss Yasuhisa Arai says there is still more to come from McLaren’s chassis as well as the power unit.
Reliability and performance issues with the Honda power unit have been blamed for McLaren’s poor season so far, with racing director Eric Boullier saying “much more” than 50% of the car’s performance is down to the engine. While Arai is unsure how much potential is still to be unlocked, he told F1i during an exclusive interview McLaren also needs to get more out of its updated car.
“It’s very difficult to say [how much potential is in the power unit], but I think not only the power unit side but also the chassis side applied a new aero kit,” Arai said. “The aero kit is very difficult to set up because there are many parameters, so we need more time to get more performance race-by-race.
“I think after a few races the chassis side and aero side is getting better, it will dramatically change, I hope.”
Honda is currently weighing up when it will next use tokens to update its power unit, believing it will have limited returns at the Hungarian Grand Prix due to the track having less emphasis on outright power.
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