Honda’s engine upgrade cost fewer tokens than previously thought after the FIA ruled one of the upgrades was for reliability purposes.
When Honda applied to spend development tokens ahead of Fernando Alonso’s run with the new engine last weekend, they originally applied to use two tokens. The first would be on the engine block, and the second on a new, lightweight exhaust.
However, the FIA believe the engine block upgrade was for reliability reasons, which doesn’t require a token to be spent. Honda resubmitted their application, this time citing reliability for the cause of the upgrade.
This morning, the FIA confirmed Honda would only use one token on their upgrades.
Alonso will run the engine this weekend, the Friday outing in Malaysia meaning he won’t need to take a grid penalty at Honda’s home race. The team plans to run the new engine in Jenson Button’s car at the United States Grand Prix, providing there are no problems this weekend, where the Brit will have to take a penalty.
Honda has two upgrade tokens left this season. It’s not expected they will be used.
