Honda comes with a major update, Horner: "Engine is actually the second version"

Multiple updates

In the preview of Red Bull Racing Horner discusses what they expect from the first race in Austria and that paints a favourable picture. "There would have been updates at the first European races at Zandvoort and Barcelona, there would have been further updates for Montreal, so of course all the updates that were in the pipeline prior to the shutdown, plus whatever we’ve learned subsequent to the shutdown, have been implemented to the car."

But whether that's enough will only become clear this weekend, because then the first real showdown will take place: "We don’t really know where we stand going into Austria", says the team boss of Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon.

"There are subtle revisions all over the car as part of that update process which I’m sure the other front running teams have also done." But the most interesting thing in that context is where the engine stands in relation to Australia, because it sounds like a big step forward.

"We also have an engine upgrade as we essentially introduce what would have been engine number two, which becomes our first engine, so in all aspects of the car there has been an awful lot of work go into and it’s been a race against the clock to get those updates onto the car since reopening the factory at the beginning of June."

So the engine will have to be a lot better on paper as it is a second version. Whether that will work out just as well in practice we will see in a couple of days.