Red Bull confirm new engine in Baku

Both Red Bull and Toro Rosso cars will be fitted with new Honda engines at this week's Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Red Bull chief Dr Helmut Marko had previously suggested that the new engine could give a 20 bhp boost on a circuit featuring Formula 1's longest straight.

Red Bull's switch from Renault power units to Honda has so far seen them maintain their spot among Mercedes and Ferrari, although they were not in the fight for victory at Australia, Bahrain or China.

Max Verstappen's third place in Melbourne is their best result so far, while Pierre Gasly has struggled to adapt to the Red Bull chassis, while Daniil Kvyat and Alexander Albon have ensured that Toro Rosso have taken points from each race so far.

Kvyat suffered an engine issue in Shanghai which necessitated a change during practice and Honda have decided to bring an upgrade to Baku in an attempt to fix the problem across all cars.

Honda technical director Toyoharu Tanabe said: "This weekend, we will introduce the Spec 2 version of our internal combustion engine (ICE) across all four cars right from the start of the weekend.

"One of the reasons for bringing it to this race is that we found that Kvyat’s PU problem in China was down to a quality control issue.

"The main benefits of Spec 2 are improved durability and life and better reliability. It also offers a slight improvement in performance."

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