Vandoorne: No 'big difference' from new Honda

Jul.7 - Stoffel Vandoorne has backed McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso in playing down the 'spec 3' Honda engine that is set to debut this weekend in Austria.

As McLaren and Honda apparently race towards divorce, Spaniard Alonso said he expects "nothing" from the new Honda specification.

Teammate Vandoorne told the Belgian broadcaster RTBF in Austria: "I do not think it will make a big difference.

"We will have to see if there is really a performance gain on the track in first practice.

"What is positive is that there is something new, so from that point of view any small tenths are welcome," the Belgian added.

Nico Hulkenberg spent some time trackside at the recent race in Baku, and he confirmed that the McLaren-Honda is the oddest sounding F1 car in the 2017 field.

"In the slow corners, it is by far the loudest," he told Auto Motor und Sport.

"It gargles and rattles like a truck and you wonder how it can race at all. Then when they go on the throttle, the engine suddenly becomes quiet and you can almost not hear it at all," the Renault driver added.

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