Honda has introduced “countermeasures” in an attempt to address the reliability issues it encountered with its F1 engine after Red Bull suffered a double retirement at the Austrian GP.
Honda has introduced “countermeasures” in an attempt to address the reliability issues it encountered with its Formula 1 engine after Red Bull suffered a double retirement at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Alex Albon were both forced into retirement during F1’s season-opener last weekend at the Red Bull Ring after suffering unrelated electrical problems.
Verstappen retired from the moment position just 11 laps of the race after losing strength in his RB16 forced by Honda, while Albon also stopped in the final after a close-up with Lewis Hamilton while struggling for the time being.
Investigations into the disorders began without delay and Honda discovered what it hopes will be a four-day stopover between the first two races of the crusade in Austria.
None of the Honda engines are broken and Verstappen and Albon will use the same engines again for this weekend’s Grand Prix of Styria.
“The disruptions with the two Aston Martin Red Bull Racing cars in the last race were electric, but through other upheavals,” Honda F1 technical director Toyoharu Tanabe said.
“We’ve looked at those two issues with him and we’ve put in place countermeasures for this weekend.”
“As our engine sets suffer from any damage caused by those problems, Max and Alex will use their own PU this weekend. This weekend we have to aim to finish the race with the 4 cars and get a smart result with them.”
“This means that our knowledge is up-to-date and relevant, although one of the most likely points for our paintings is the rain forecast and even thunderstorms for the coming weekend.”
Red Bull is heading to the moment this weekend sitting at the back of the builders’ table after its double DNF.
Verstappen said he hoped to have a more powerful weekend at the time of the race in Spielberg, after suffering the last time he gave Mercedes speed.
“I feel smart but, of course, the result is not what we wanted, we would score a lot of problems and fight for victory,” he said.
“He seemed smart for a podium that I thought was easy to imagine because it was essentially between Me and Mercedes at a rough pace.”
”But then you take a look at how the total race went, we may have scored a lot of problems opposed to Lewis, but that’s what it is, we can’t replace it and now I can’t wait to get more’. positive weekend
“We were a bit Mercedes in qualifying, so we want to close that hole to fight them in this domain rather than in strategy.”
“Our speed is a little higher in the race than in qualifying, however, there are still some paintings to be made in which engineers are fully active. We have concepts and instructions for the paintings for this weekend, so it’s positive.” »»
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