Honda will supply an engine update to both Red Bull teams for this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Team advisor Helmut Marko revealed the upgrade was coming at the last race in China, adding a performance boost of 20 horsepower was the result.
However, F1 technical director Toyoharu Tanabe played down the size of the power increase, instead claiming the focus was on improvements elsewhere.
“This weekend, we will introduce the Spec 2 version of our internal combustion engine (ICE) across all four cars right from the start of the weekend,” he confirmed.
“One of the reasons for bringing it to this race is that we found that [Daniil] Kvyat’s PU problem in China was down to a quality control issue.
“The main benefits of Spec 2 are improved durability and life and better reliability. It also offers a slight improvement in performance.”
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Any extra power is welcome though in Baku on the unique layout in Azerbaijan’s capital.
“The key features of the Baku track are the main straight, which is over 2 kilometres in length and the many right angle corners, typical of a city circuit,” the Honda chief surmised.
“From a PU point of view, the long straight means energy management is an important factor and we will use the lessons we learned here last year when it comes to optimising our settings.”