By alley - Feb 5, 2015, 11:01 AM ET

F1: Honda plans upgrades for next test

The Japanese manufacturer faced a spate of niggling issues with its new power unit in F1's first 2015 test, which included sensor problems, oil level issues and a fuel pump failure. With the reliability dramas limiting Honda's running to 79 laps over four days, it is clear a step forward is needed ahead of the next test which begins on Feb. 19.

Honda's motorsport chief Yasuhiso Arai has no doubts that the difficulties it has faced this week will be sorted so that its Barcelona-spec engine will run better.

"There are many difficulties that we had this week, but we will fix it before the next Barcelona test and get back to work again," he said. "The new engine will be a step up, because we are taking things step by step. Some parts will be final [race] parts, but not all. There are several testing parts still, and we will take final confirmation on those just before Melbourne."

Arai said that he had still total faith that Honda and McLaren would be able to perform strongly this season, and said he was encouraged that the Jerez dramas were not caused by any major design fault.

"There was no major big trouble," he said. "Our package is very tight and skinny, but some points have been validated. It is a tight package, but we had no big trouble with it."

Originally on Autosport.com