Honda will have new power unit for all four drivers at Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso for this weekend’s F1 Russian GP.
Honda introduced its Spec 4 power unit in Belgian GP which was taken up by Red Bull’s Alexander Albon and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat. In Italian GP, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly took it as well.
Barely two races in, Honda has decided to bring in another ICE which they are dubbing it as Spec 4 itself as it does not look like an upgrade. All four drivers will be fitted with the new unit, making it five for them.
While Verstappen, Albon and Gasly will only be subjected to a five-place grid penalty with the new ICE, Kvyat is set to start from the back as Honda will replace all the elements as he is out of place in the usage list.
The idea for the Japanese manufacturer is to see-through the 2019 F1 season without the need of any fresh elements and use whatever is in the pool for the five grand prix after Russia.
Speaking on the Spec 4 unit, the drivers have held back their comments since the races haven’t been clean to judge it fully. They expected a better run in Singapore but both qualifying and race didn’t go well.
All the extra power unit taken up by Honda this year hasn’t been for reliability issues but for aggressive push for performance. They are still not as good as Mercedes or Ferrari but are pushing to close the gap.
