Honda avoided high fuel consumption repeat in Baku

Baku, June 22, AZERTAC Honda did not suffer a repeat of its high fuel consumption problems during the Grand Prix of Europe as it showed "better than expected" performance. The Canadian Grand Prix saw Fernando Alonso hampered by high fuel consumption, with Honda's head of F1 project Yusuke Hasegawa admitting Alonso's pace was hurt by the need to save fuel from a very early stage. While the Baku City Circuit was expected to provide a similar test, Hasegawa says Honda performed better on that front, according to F1i.com. “I think it was better than expected," Hasegawa said. "We thought that we were very much in trouble, especially in the race on the straight, but because we were using lower downforce settings and the drivers were utilising the tow position very much I think they did a very good race. “The power unit is exactly the same as it was in Canada. I didn’t analyse the telemetry but fuel consumption is better which is similar to what we expected, which is good. But I think it was because of the lower downforce settings and utilising the tow position. “As a matter of fact I don’t think both drivers had a lot of fuel saving. Maybe a couple of laps they did but I don’t think they did.” And Hasegawa says Honda can take some credit for the improvement in fuel saving since the start of the season as a result of recent power unit upgrades.