Honda making ’progress’ with new engine - Boullier

Eric Boullier would not be drawn on what sort of progress Honda has made with its struggling ’power unit’ at Sochi.

The new specification, benefitting from the Japanese marque’s final four performance ’tokens’ of 2015, was run earlier at Sochi by Fernando Alonso, with observers noting a distinctly different engine sound.

The Spanish driver revealed that it is working well.

"The new version of the engine is working as we expected after the work on the test stand and all of the calculations," confirmed McLaren team boss Boullier.

"Everything went according to plan.

"We brought this engine here because we knew that Sochi would not suit us," he said, referring to the fact that Alonso will serve his grid penalties on Sunday but then benefit from the actual use of the engine at Austin.

"Can I tell you how much the new engine gives us? No, sorry, I can’t tell you more. But, as we said, there is progress," added Boullier.