New Honda more powerful, but still unreliable

Honda's 2016 engine is more powerful than its predecessor, but still unreliable. That is the claim of Marco Canseco, the correspondent for the Spanish sports daily Marca. McLaren-Honda debuted its novel, ultra-compact 'size zero' concept last year, where the tight packaging of the rear was possible because the turbo is located actually inside the 'vee' of the engine.

According to Britain's Motor Sport Magazine, the Honda turbo is bigger for 2016, with Yasuhisa Arai confirming that it will be "around the same size" as the Mercedes unit. The 'size zero' concept, however, is staying. Writing in Marca, Censeco said Honda test-bench runs since the first full 2016 chassis was put together confirm the turbo V6 is now more powerful but "the new turbo repeatedly breaks".

And "apparently there are still overheating problems, even though the new (turbo) now works at lower rpm of about 100,000 compared to the 120,000 of last year", Canseco added. Marca said that after Sunday's online launch of the MP4-31, it is believed Fernando Alonso will be at the wheel on the opening day of Barcelona testing. (GMM)