Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsHonda

Honda plays down horsepower gains

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Honda has dismissed a report claiming it has made a gain of 223 horsepower with its 2016 power unit.

The Japanese manufacturer endured a difficult first season back in F1 in 2015, with performance and reliability issues seeing McLaren finish ninth in the constructors' championship. However, clear progress is expected this season after Honda pinpointed the main reasons for its deficit last year, with the power unit development regulations allowing it to make changes to its engine.

A report in Spanish newspaper AS claimed Honda has found substantial gains over the winter so far, but a spokesperson for the manufacturer rejected the claim.

"Recent media reports have suggested a huge horsepower boost for McLaren-Honda in 2016," the spokesperson said. "These reports are unsubstantiated and merely speculative, and we ask fans and media alike to treat them as such."

While Honda motorsport boss Yasuhisa Arai told F1i during an exclusive interview at the end of 2015 that the manufacturer has fixes in place for its troubles last year, the complexity of the power units mean it is unlikely any overall improvement will be known until pre-season testing.

The first pre-season test gets underway in Barcelona on February 22.

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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.