New spec Honda power units for Red Bull & Toro Rosso in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Honda will roll out a new specification power unit for their teams this weekend in Azerbaijan.

The two Honda powered teams Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso will, this weekend, enjoy a slight boost in power as the Japanese manufacturer introduces a new specification power unit.

Having had a solid start to 2019, Honda will bring along their new Specification 2 version of their engine, which will be introduced straight away across all four cars. Along with power upgrades, the update is also supposed to improve reliability. This update has been brought forward for a planned introduction for the Spanish Grand Prix, due to Daniil Kvyat’s power unit problem during FP1 last time out in China.

“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,” Toyoharu Tanabe, Honda Racing’s F1 Technical Director, announced ahead of this weekend.

“One of the reasons for bringing it to this race is that we found that 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.”

Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly at Red Bull, along with Alex Albon & Daniil Kvyat at Toro Rosso, will all use the new power units with immediate effect.