Honda Racing Corporation president Koji Watanabe has revealed that Honda actually introduced its second ADUO upgrade as early as Formula 1's Spanish Grand Prix, with the upgrade focused on the power unit's turbocharger. Aston Martin and Honda struggled from the start of the season, but their performance slightly improved after a major chassis upgrade was introduced at the Hungaroring. In Zandvoort, the team also introduced a power unit fitted with the first ADUO upgrade.
Honda's ICE was measured to be more than 4% behind the Red Bull Ford Powertrains engine, which was rated as having the highest output, meaning Honda was granted permission to use two ADUO tokens during the season. Honda and HRC had previously explained that they would use only one of those ADUO opportunities. "We used both of them," Watanabe revealed to Autosport when asked why Honda had decided to use only one ADUO upgrade. "We introduced the first ADUO upgrade in the Netherlands, and then we put a PU incorporating the second update into Lance Stroll's car at the Spanish Grand Prix." "The Spec 2 PU we introduced in the Netherlands had some drivability issues, so we introduced an improved turbo at the Spanish Grand Prix." Indeed, the FIA's list of PU component usage shows that Stroll's car was fitted with its fifth turbocharger of the season at the Spanish GP. Fernando Alonso's car was also fitted with his fifth turbo, which would appear to be the upgraded version, at the Azerbaijan GP.
Asked whether the objective was to address turbo lag, Watanabe replied: "Yes.".
Source: Autosport F1 News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing