Fernando Alonso will have a new Honda engine in his McLaren at next weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix after his first unit was heavily damaged in his Melbourne crash.
The Spaniard was lining up Esteban Gutierrez to launch an attack at Turn 3 during the Australian GP when he clipped the rear left of the Haas. This first sent Alonso into the wall and then into a series of rolls with his car coming to a rest upside down in the gravel trap.
The double world champion thankfully emerged unscathed from the shunt, but the same could not be said of his MP4-31, with only the survival cell remaining intact.
According to several reports, Honda sent the power unit back to its Sakura R&D facility in Japan to assess the impact of the damage.
“There is a high probability that most of the power unit components have been damaged by Fernando's accident in Melbourne,” a Honda spokeswoman is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com.
“It is still too early to tell if there are any salvageable parts. Therefore, we will be using a new power unit for the Bahrain GP.”
F1 drivers can only use five entire power units across the whole 2016 season, though teams can fit old elements (MGU-H, MGU-K, turbine, etc.) on a new engine in a mix-and-match system.
Thus, should Honda find out that some parts have been spared in the wreckage, these could be re-used later this year.
Technical analysis - Melbourne
Scene at the Australian Grand Prix
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