F1 News
Honda say new engine "performing as expected" despite qualifying performance
Nicolás Quarles van Ufford
Honda technical director Toyoharu Tanabe has said he's happy with the way the new, upgraded Spec 3 engine is running for both Red Bull Racing as well as Toro Rosso, even though Max Verstappen was over a second slower than pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton.
Three of the four Honda-powered cars were fitted with the new engine, with Alexander Albon's car being the only one still running the old spec.
Star driver Verstappen was well over a second slower than Hamilton in P1, and just about beat McLaren rookie Lando Norris in P5 by nine-thousandths of a second. For Pierre Gasly it was a worse day as the Frenchman only qualified ninth for Red Bull at his home race, with Albon following suit in P11 and Daniil Kvyat starting in P19 because of a grid penalty.
"Since Friday, we have made progress with our overall package and Max’s fourth place on the grid is a good result," Tanabe said post-qualifying.
"Albon missed out on Q3 by a very small margin but eleventh is a good place to start, with a free choice of tyre.
"So far, our first weekend running the Spec 3 Power Unit has gone smoothly and it is performing as we expected. We must now look at the data, as usual, to prepare for tomorrow’s race."
