Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

New Honda engine for Button after ICE issue

Jenson Button has had to take an unscheduled engine change after Honda discovered a problem with the ICE on Friday night.

McLaren showed a clear step forward during the two Friday practice sessions for the Malaysian Grand Prix, with both Button and team-mate Fernando Alonso close to the pace of Force India and Sauber. However, Honda then discovered a problem with Button's car and changed the engine ahead of FP3.

"After FP2, Honda performed engine data checks to understand Friday's performance," a Honda spokesperson said. "As a result, we have found an ICE issue, and the engine is no longer suitable to be driven therefore we have changed the engine on Friday evening.

"The issue affects the ICE only ... This is something that can be managed in the future."

Honda also says the problem is different to the one suffered by Kevin Magnussen at the Australian Grand Prix.

Button finished FP3 with only the two Manor cars behind him, nearly three seconds off the pace set by Nico Rosberg.

Click here for three reasons why Honda is struggling at the start of 2015

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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.