McLaren-Honda won't use F1 engine tokens for Spanish GP

The McLaren-Honda alliance promised a significant update both to the chassis and engine for Barcelona as it searches for its first points of the current campaign.

Team principal Eric Boullier hinted in Bahrain last month that Honda could use some of its nine tokens in a bid to bridge the gap to its rivals.

However, AUTOSPORT understands the Japanese manufacturer has not dipped into that allocation, which allows for in-season engine development and can be used at any time, instead focusing on improving its current package.

The updates centre around reliability and drivability and improving the manufacturing quality of small components on the power unit.

There have also been updates to the engine mapping software as the alliance looks to improve on Fernando Alonso's 11th place finish in Bahrain.

"The short break before the Spanish GP has been good for Honda, to calmly reflect on what has happened in the first four races, to analyse what we have done well or not so well, and to make preparations ahead of the European races," said Honda motorsport chief Yasuhisa Arai.

"We hope that Spain will see another incremental step forward for Honda, in which we've prepared updates on the power unit to help with driveability and reliability.

"And like us, McLaren has had a productive two weeks and will be bringing more updates to test at the track and we'll see how the car will run together as one.

"We're confident that every step we take together as a team is in the right direction, and hopefully this weekend will once again prove our continuing progress."

Remaining engine development tokens

Renault 12
Ferrari 10
Honda 9
Mercedes 7