Honda has given the green light for both Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne to use their updated power unit for the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend, which should give McLaren a performance boost at the Red Bull Ring.
During the last event in Azerbaijan, Alonso got the opportunity to test the upgrade, dubbed 'Spec 3', during practice.
However, with Honda wanting to validate the performance gains and tweak its settings ahead of its race debut, the Spaniard didn't get the opportunity to use it for the remainder of the weekend, but he still managed to score McLaren's first points of the season, courtesy of ninth place.
Both drivers will get the new engine this weekend though, Honda's Yusuke Hasegawa has confirmed.
"At the previous round in Azerbaijan, we were able to bank our first points of the year and I think it brought some brightness into our team," he said.
"We also tested the updated PU [Power Unit], the Spec 3, with Fernando on Friday and we were able to confirm some progress in terms of the power output.
"We have proceeded with the mapping back at the factory utilising the data we collected, and we are going to bring the Spec 3 for both drivers this weekend."
Hasegawa said he is looking forward to seeing how it performs around the Spielberg circuit.
"I think we have some improvements in our competitiveness and I am looking forward to seeing our performance in Austria," he commented.
“We will not stop our preparation until the last minutes, and I hope we have a good race to reflect our progress.”
