McLaren will receive a new fuel from ExxonMobil which is "quite different to what everybody else is doing" at the Canadian Grand Prix.

The new fuel is the first upgrade introduced for the Honda power unit this season, coinciding with a circuit which requires strong engine performance. ExxonMobil's global motorsport technology manager Bruce Crawley says the fuel itself should represent a gain of around 0.1s in lap time.

"We're bringing a new fuel to Canada, which we've been working on with Honda," Crawley told Motorsport.com. "It's a new concept, and quite different to what everybody else is doing. It's part of an ongoing programme of development which is now in its third year.

"We made a significant step forward in Melbourne, with a double-digit power performance increase relative to where the engine was with the previous fuel. We've been running with that fuel so far this season. The new fuel for Montreal represents about a 1 percent power increase.

"In round numbers, that's around 5kW, or about a tenth of a second, depending on what circuit you are on."

And Crawley says one of the major positive aspects of the new fuel is the way it opens up further potential for Honda's future developments.

"The interesting thing about this technology we're putting into the engine spec for Montreal is it's very much an enabling technology.

"The fuel technology has the potential, with changes and evolution of the engine hardware, to extract even more performance.

"We very much see this as a breakthrough in terms of enabling further gains with changes to the combustion system of the engine. Basically what we're trying to do is give Honda a headroom space to develop into."

Chris Medland's 2016 Canadian Grand Prix preview

FEATURE: Six races in - 2015 v 2016 comparisons

Ziv Knoll's Indy 500 diary

Alex Wurz: Let's get back to extreme track designs

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

Las Vegas GP: Thursday's action in pictures

The opening day of running at the Las Vegas GP was a smooth but chilly…

35 mins ago

Williams' headaches persist into Vegas practice

Williams is continuing to fight uphill battles this weekend in Las Vegas as a knock-on…

2 hours ago

Ferrari's Sainz 'not satisfied with where we are' in Vegas

It was a solid start to the Las Vegas weekend for Ferrari with Carlos Sainz…

3 hours ago

Norris labels McLaren long-run pace ‘shocking’ in chilly Vegas

Lando Norris didn’t hold back in his assessment of McLaren’s performance on the opening day…

4 hours ago

Hamilton delighted with ‘consistently strong day’ in Vegas

Lewis Hamilton was particularly happy with his opening day of running at the Las Vegas…

5 hours ago

Verstappen stuck with 'draggy' rear wing for Vegas

Red Bull fears that its prospects for this weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix - which…

6 hours ago