Honda plays down impact of slow start to 2017

BARCELONA, Spain -- Honda has played down the severity of its early-season problems, saying it will not have a big impact on the development of its power unit.The Japanese engine manufacturer has overhauled its power unit this season but has already encountered...

Honda plays down impact of slow start to 2017

BARCELONA, Spain -- Honda has played down the severity of its early-season problems, saying it will not have a big impact on the development of its power unit.

The Japanese engine manufacturer has overhauled its power unit this season but has already encountered a series of issues during the opening days of testing. On Monday a problem with the design of the oil tank limited Fernando Alonso to 29 laps before a mechanical issue occurred on the replacement engine on day two.

Honda manufactured a new oil tank for day three, but the result of the investigation into the second issue is not expected to be concluded until Thursday -- at which point Honda will decide what to change for the second test.

"Again we feel sorry to the drivers and Eric [Boullier, McLaren racing director] but it is good to find out some issues in the test - especially the first day," Honda F1 boss Yusuke Hasegawa said. "So I think we can gain some data from that. From an engine point of view, I don't think it's a big effect of the development. "We didn't know the exact cause of the problem of yesterday's engine issue, so so far we plan the same as the operation. We didn't change anything, because we don't know the cause of the problem but I believe that we of course can solve the issue before Melbourne."

Asked if the fix for the oil tank would be the final design, Hasegawa added: "So far we can deal with the current modified oil tank but obviously through the season we are always trying to improve the system. If we have a chance we may introduce some more oil tank modifications but so far I don't think it is a problem to run with this one." Hasegawa added that the changes made next week would most likely reflect the spec of power unit used at the first race.

"It depends on what was the problem was on yesterday's one. We are supposed to introduce same spec engine to Melbourne for next week of course."

Boullier believes the McLaren-Honda package is still on course to complete enough testing miles to have a good understanding of the car by Melbourne.

"Well the more we run the more we learn, we may discover some issues to fix," he said. "There is a minimum we can do and I believe we will achieve the minimum at least to understand the car, the set ups of the car and then we will see."

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