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Engine update for Red Bull Racing: 'Want to beat Mercedes'
- GPblog.com
Max Verstappen has a new Energy Store at his disposal since the Belgian Grand Prix. Honda had kept it a secret until now, but now explains how they can come up with an update so late in the season.
Honda kept update secret
Between the end of the season in 2020 and the end of the season in 2021, engine suppliers are allowed to do one update per engine part. Honda released a completely new Internal Combustion Engine in the winter, but also kept some new parts in reserve.
Honda has now announced that Verstappen has been using a new Energy Store since the Belgian GP. This new design has reportedly been worked on since 2015, where there were many gains for Honda. The data has shown that the team has made a big leap with this design because the new component is also much lighter.
Big step for Red Bull
''This new ES has been developed in a project that has taken several years, with an aim to combine improvements in energy efficiency with significant reductions in weight. In what will be the company’s final season in the sport, Honda F1 has managed to introduce the new ES - fitted with a lighter, low-resistance, highly efficient and ultra-high power battery cell - just in time for the start of the second half of the season,'' Honda's head of development, Yasuaki Asaki, said in the Honda message.
''In order to achieve the ultimate goal of defeating Mercedes and winning the championship before leaving F1 at the end of the 2021 season, we recognised the need to enhance performance. As such, the development plan for the new ES was brought forward substantially from the original goal of 2022 to introduction during the 2021 season,'' Asaki concluded.