Honda is set to bring reliability updates to their power units for Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne at the Russian Grand Prix after consistent issues plagued the team in Bahrain.
While Alonso retired the car in the final laps of the race, Vandoorne didn’t even make the start as his MCL32 showed problems on the way to the grid with issues related to the MGU-H component.
After a two-day test in Bahrain after the race Honda tested the new updates on the car, despite problems on the first day when reserve driver Oliver Turvey only managed 17 laps, Vandoorne managed to complete 81 laps on the second day without an issue.
Since the test, Honda has been working on solutions to the continued problems with their power unit and have implemented safeguards that should help their reliability.
Honda F1 boss Yusuke Hasegawa told Autosport: “After a disappointing grand prix weekend in Bahrain, we have since had an extremely busy few days during in-season testing.
“The team has been working hard to implement some countermeasures to help combat our MGU-H issues.
“By the second day of testing, we think we were able to confirm the direction of our solution against the issue after completing 81 laps with Stoffel behind the wheel.”
It is reported that both drivers will use a new MGU-H in Russia, this will mean that Vandoorne is on his fourth component and will incur grid penalties should he need to use more throughout the season, Alonso will be using a third MGU-H.
Vandoorne added: “After a difficult couple of weeks, the last day of the Bahrain test was very encouraging, both for me and for the whole team.
“It was a boost we needed and provided us with a lot of useful information about the direction we are taking the whole package in, so we go to Sochi with a better feeling than we had on Sunday night after a disappointing race.”
