Honda still struggled with turbo lag in Singapore despite new turbocharger

Despite a new turbocharger, Honda still struggled to control turbo lag at the Singapore Grand Prix, leaving acceleration unstable for the driver, its chief trackside engineer Shintaro Orihara said. He attributed the difficulty to the circuit layout and its energy-rich conditions. Fernando Alonso had also pointed to problems with the Honda power unit after the race, particularly its driveability.

Turbo lag is the delay between pressing the accelerator and feeling the turbo spool up. It had already hindered driveability with Honda’s new power-unit specification at Zandvoort. Honda introduced a new turbocharger in Madrid using its second ADUO upgrade of the year, intending to eliminate the lag.

Checks at Honda’s Sakura facility after Singapore found no specific hardware fault. Orihara said MGU-K deployment can help counter turbo lag but cannot offset it completely. Honda normally harvests energy through the MGU-K on energy-rich circuits so the engine can run at a high operating point in off-throttle sections. But he said those conditions can make it difficult to harvest enough energy, leaving the engine’s operating mode unable to manage the lag.

Aston Martin’s expectations also contributed to the Singapore disappointment, according to chief trackside officer Mike Krack. He said the team’s surprising result at Sepang probably raised expectations for Singapore, perhaps beyond a realistic level. When the team did not deliver for various reasons, he said, the disappointment made the weekend more difficult. Krack added that simulation tools could not give a clear picture of how lag or MGU-K behaviour would affect driveability.

Honda’s planned response was in how it operates the power unit, not in new hardware: Orihara said it was preparing countermeasures through software and settings. He added that Honda still needed to check how they worked on the power unit.