McLaren to receive fuel upgrade in Canada

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."