Alonso's Spa engine gets the all-clear!

Following a thorough check, Honda has given the all-clear to the engine which powered Fernando Alonso in last Sunday's Belgian GP.

The Spanish driver retired from the race after 25 laps, claiming an engine problem, but the Japanese manufacturer has found no issues with the unit which has been returned to its pool of engines available this weekend at Monza.

Honda is pondering giving Alonso an upgrade in Italy however, providing the McLaren driver with its latest spec 4 engine which features increased power.

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Should Alonso receive the new unit, he would incur a 35-place grid penalty, putting him at the back of the field on a power-hungry track where McLaren-Honda will likely prove once again at a disadvantage.

The move could strategically prove beneficial in a fortnight however, when the following race in Singapore will likely provide McLaren-Honda with a good chance of points.

Honda chief Yusuke Hasegawa told the Japanese source Sportiva that the manufacturer had made a clear step forward at Spa.

"We assume that the improvement was one tenth, but in fact it may have been more," he said.

"It is difficult to see because of the characteristics of Spa, but if we would have run it in Hungary, the result would have been different."

Hasegawa said the new specification seen in Belgium improved the torque of the engine at low speed.

"Although Spa is not a place where there are many low-speed corners, the eleventh place in qualifying shows the effect of 'specification 3.5'," he insisted.

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