BAKU, Azerbaijan -- Both Honda and Renault have reported a step in engine performance after bringing updates to their power units at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The two manufacturers are both playing catch-up to Mercedes and Ferrari, although Honda has a significantly larger gap to the top two manufacturers than Renault.
Honda had originally planned to bring its engine update to Canada, but it was delayed to this weekend's race and only fitted to Fernando Alonso's car during Friday practice. Alonso set the 12th fastest time before a gearbox failure cut his session short, but Honda engine boss Yusuke Hasegawa believed a faster time was possible.
"We came to Baku armed with an update for Fernando's PU, which we ran during both practice sessions today," Hasegawa said. "Working through our programme in accordance with today's schedule, I can confirm that we were able to see the effectiveness of the update in the data.
"It was disappointing that Fernando had to stop the car during FP2, and unfortunately for us it was before doing his timed lap, but we still saw certain progress with the power of the PU. Overall, I regard today as positive -- we didn't have any major issues with the new spec PU, and I feel that we've taken an encouraging step forward."
There had been some confusion over Renault's planned upgrade ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as the boost in performance did not require new components to be fitted. However, after Max Verstappen topped both sessions in his Renault-powered Red Bull, Renault Sport F1's managing director Cyril Abiteboul confirmed a 0.2s per lap step in performance for this weekend.
"There is improvement," Abiteboul said. "For instance, this weekend, we have two tenths of an upgrade in the engine. We were not expecting to make huge publicity on that but I feel that I have to make that clarification.
"And that upgrade is coming despite the fact that we are not changing the engine. That's why it's important to disconnect the different aspects.
"We are having a sort of arms race. All teams are bringing big upgrades, we are doing the same but same thing as on the engine, there won't be a golden bullet."