Honda still investigating Alonso's engine issues

Yusuke Hasegawa has revealed that Honda is still investigating the engine issues that hampered Fernando Alonso at Spa-Francorchamps last weekend.

The Japanese manufacturer had a major power unit upgrade for the Belgian GP but the Spaniard suffered a series of setbacks in practice and qualifying, which forced Honda to fit a new engine at the back of his MP4-31 and resulted in a 60-place grid penalty.

With Alonso eventually recovering to seventh place in a red-flagged contest, Hasegawa is pleased with how McLaren-Honda reacted in the face of adversity.

“The team did a great job pulling our strengths together last weekend despite Spa being a challenging track, and with the reliability issues we faced,” Honda’s head of F1 project said. “The team was tested many times, but owing to their hard work and perseverance, we had a decent weekend.

“We’re still investigating the problem with Fernando's power units, but we’ll learn from our experiences and hopefully have another good weekend in Monza.”

With the upcoming Italian Grand Prix also placing a high demand on engine performance, Hasegawa admits Honda is once again braced for a tough outing at the final European round of the current Formula One season.

“Monza is a high-speed, power-hungry, classic and legendary track with the longest full throttle percentage per lap on the 2016 calendar.

“The long straights and the nature of the turns will undoubtedly give us a difficult time over the race weekend, but we cannot deny the strong pull Monza has for everyone in F1, including Honda.

“We will continue to target finishing in the points in the race, however tough it may be this weekend.”

Scene at the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix

Belgian Grand Prix - quotes of the week

F1i's driver ratings - Spa-Francorchamps

RACE REPORT: Rosberg wins at Spa as Hamilton recovers to third

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