Honda is working to improve the quality of its components to help with reliability ahead of the first race of the season in Australia.

An encouraging start to the second test on Thursday was brought to an abrupt end when Honda discovered a faulty MGU-K seal, with a replacement part needing to be produced. Speaking exclusively to F1i, Honda motorsport chief Yasuhisa Arai explained that the quality of certain parts needs to be improved over the coming weeks.

“It’s a quality issue, not design related,” Arai said. “So our design is part of a very tight package for aerodynamics and it’s a very good design, but some sealing parts have some not so good quality so that’s the seal problem we had. Yesterday we got another part and put it on the car and made it run very well.”

When asked about the new part that was introduced on Friday, Arai said it was not a permanent replacement but just an adjustment to allow the team continue testing.

“It’s not the final part, it’s just a temporary fix. We’re still investigating how we can improve the quality with the target of Australia.”

McLaren's running on Saturday was limited to just 12 laps in the morning session after Button stopped on track when the engine shut down.

Click here for live coverage of testing from Barcelona

Feature: A closer look at the McLaren MP4-30

Click here for the gallery from day three of the second test

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

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.

Recent Posts

Sad Colapinto laments two crashes in one day in Sao Paulo

Williams suffered a bruising time on Sunday in Sao Paulo, with Alex Albon unable to…

41 mins ago

McLaren: No regrets over timing of Norris pit stop in Sao Paulo GP

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has insisted that the squad has no regrets about their…

2 hours ago

Williams' Boutsen hoists the mainsail in Adelaide

On this day in 1989, Williams' Thierry Boutsen secured his second F1 win when he…

3 hours ago

Horner: Max 'answered critics' with epic Sao Paulo GP drive

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner hailed Max Verstappen’s sensational Sao Paulo Grand Prix victory…

4 hours ago

Sainz left puzzled by double crash drama in rainy São Paulo

Carlos Sainz was left scratching his head after a disastrous Sunday at the Sao Paulo…

5 hours ago

Alonso pushed through agonizing pain to complete Sao Paulo GP

Fernando Alonso braved both physical agony and mechanical challenges in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix,…

7 hours ago