Honda expected 'trouble' on Baku F1 circuit

McLaren-Honda identified the new Baku city F1 circuit as likely to be its worst track of the season, feeling it would suffer severely for a lack of power on one of F1's longest straights.

The team was less competitive in qualifying than in recent races, with Fernando Alonso failing to make Q3 for the first time since April's Russian GP in Sochi.

But both Alonso and team-mate Jenson Button were reasonably competitive in the race.

Alonso was running 12^th when he got stuck in fourth gear with around 14 laps to go, while Button drove on to finish 11^th, the last driver on the lead lap.

Honda's F1 chief Yusuke Hasegawa said recent improvements to the Energy Recovery Systems, coupled with the drivers making clever use of aerodynamic tows on the long straights, made for a better than expected performance.

"We thought that we were very much in trouble, especially in the race on the straight," he said.

"But because we were using lower downforce settings, and the drivers were utilising the tow position very much, they did a very good race.

"The power unit is exactly the same as it was in Canada, but fuel consumption is better, which is good."

Hasegawa said the new turbo update Honda introduced in Canada was key to making the ERS more efficient, which also helped McLaren-Honda in Baku.

"We updated the turbine, so recovering the energy is getting better," he added.

"That helped very much - we can save fuel because we can use electricity instead."

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier praised Honda for reaching its expected target for the season in terms of ERS improvement.

"We have now reached a good level of energy recovery, which allows us to deploy a range over all tracks of the year to the best combination at all circuits," he said.

"We've done a good job - we believe we're now in the ballpark of the other cars [in terms of ERS].

"We have the best deployment we can here [in Baku], and we have to think other tracks too.

"We've hit the number we wanted to achieve."