Albon and Kvyat take Honda's 'Spec 4' engine, both set to start at back of the grid; Albon making Red Bull debut this weekend
Thursday 29 August 2019 15:19, UK
Alex Albon is set to start at the back of the grid on his Red Bull debut after taking engine penalties for the Belgian GP.
Honda are introducing their third engine upgrade of F1 2019 this weekend - but the 'Spec 4' will only be used on two of the four cars they power, those of Albon and Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat, who both take grid drops.
The British-born Thai driver has replaced Pierre Gasly as Max Verstappen's team-mate for the rest of the season, with Gasly back at Toro Rosso, and each driver effectively takes the other's engine allocation.
What does Albon need to do at Red Bull?
When's the Belgian GP on Sky?
"As usual, we have focused on improving both reliability and performance, in the hope of achieving even better results with both teams in this part of the season," said Honda technical director Toyoharu Tanabe.
"Our plan is that only Albon and Kvyat will run it at Spa, for strategic reasons, looking at the rest of the season as a whole."
It is likely that Verstappen and Gasly will get the upgraded engine in Italy next week, with Honda keen not to have all four of their drivers starting at the back of the grid at the same race.
Albon's grid penalty at Spa means he is set to sit out qualifying, and admitted starting at the back eases the pressure on his debut.
"We'll just go into the weekend more focused on race pace, which means more laps," he said. "I still would have liked to have given it a go and see how I could have done in qualifying and try and start further up than I will be."
Asked to rate his excitement for his debut out of 10, Albon added: "It's a 10 for excitement but the number for nerves is quite high as well!"
