Honda forced to change MGU-H and turbochargers for Bahrain!

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Toro Rosso drivers Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley will both have a modified MGU-H and turbocharger in their Honda power units for Bahrain.

Gasly was hit by an engine failure 13 laps into the Australian Grand Prix which forced him to retire. It was the first major setback for Honda, after a relatively trouble-free time in pre-season testing.

The French driver will need a new internal combustion engine (ICE) for this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix.

Honda's technical director Toyoharu Tanabe said that the engine failure had been caused by an issue with the MGU-H heat recovery unit, as well as the turbocharger.

As a result these parts also need changing on Gasly's car. The upgraded components will also be introduced into Hartley's STR13 when the teams arrive in Bahrain.

"During the race in Australia, we had an issue with the MGU-H and turbocharger on Pierre’s car," Tanabe reported. "This had the knock-on effect of also damaging the ICE.

"The MGU-H and turbo have both been modified, in light of what we learned in the first race.

"In Bahrain, Pierre will use a new ICE, MGU-H and turbocharger," he continued. "We have decided, as a precautionary measure, to also change the MGU-H and turbocharger on Brendon’s car."

Gasly: Honda is 'pushing flat out' on 'proper' engine

New regulations for 2018 mean that each driver is only allowed three of each power unit components for the whole of the season. It means that drivers should complete seven races on each set.

"Replacing components for the second race is obviously a difficult decision and not ideal," Tanabe conceded. "[Especially] given that the number of Power Units and ancillary components is now limited to just three per season.

"However we believe this is the right way forward.

"We will continue our development in order to ensure the same issue does not reoccur," he added.

"Although Sakhir is a tough track for the PU, we hope to move on from this difficult moment, as we focus on this race and those that follow."

If Honda is unable to salvage the previous components, Gasly only has one more free change of the ICE, turbo and MGU-H to cover all the remaining 20 Grand Prix weekends.

Alternatively, Toro Rosso can expect to be starting from the back of the grid after incurring some hefty grid penalties at some point during the season.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.