The user muramasa over at the Autosprt Forums does a great Job translating Arai's Interviews in the Japanese Media, here's his summary of the Spa Weekend:
"Arai quotes (all bullet parts) and info (where specified ) from Spa on Japanese language source
http://as-web.jp/new...c_id=1&no=67414
http://as-web.jp/new...c_id=1&no=67468
http://as-web.jp/new...c_id=1&no=67514
http://as-web.jp/new...c_id=1&no=67600
http://sportiva.shue...f1_94/index.php
also F1 sokuho
on PU
[note that these are mishmash of quotes out of different contexts as well as from different days (mostly unsure when exactly)]
- At the point of the beginning of summer break period shortly after Hungary, it has been decided that introducing the upgrade using all 7 tokens for Spa had to be abandoned / given up. (info in article. usually I be careful to pass these unquoted info but quite specific so just as a reference. remember that this is un-sourced.)
- Arai at Spa (on Thursday) looked somber/downbeat (due to upgrade being not major one as planned) (info in articles: impression by the writer)
-At Hungaroring, the amount of harvested energy exceeded the amount of release/usage so there was no need to worry about deployment management, but at Spa there should be shortage no matter how we calculate, which itself must be same for not just Honda but also for other makers.
-many things happened and due to circumstance it turned out we could only use 3 tokens after all, so no massive update and we cannot expect much on performance here
-changes made to; combustion chamber, air intake (plenum), exhaust layout, cooling
-Aim is to alter combustion concept/characteristics and pursue more effective combustion in order to increase the output, we only made some changes to relevant parts here and there, so the change is not that drastic yet. Combustion chamber is the set of components like engine head, block and pistons, so one alteration comes with so many things to be checked/verified, which takes a lot of time. If possible, we would have liked to introduce all 7 tokens here at Spa, but there are many things left unchecked yet, so we decided to put in 3 tokens. There was report "exceeding Ferrari", but it's impossible to expect it here. We are considering one more push somewhere in the second half of the season.
-output level-wise, we could confirm from torque sensor that the figure seen on track is matching the figure on dynamometer
-In terms of output, our PU is certainly more powerful than Renault's. Some articles wrote "output hasnt increased despite upgrade", but that's not the case. We have output power, but are unable to connect/turn the output to lap time, to make the car go faster. In terms of competition where it's about fast or slow, it's true that we are disappointing our fans, but the issue is separate from combustion concept that's been upgraded this time.
-We are not able to use the power effectively to make the car run fast. The issue is total amount of energy available, it could be for example that regeneration at MGU-H not enough as one thing, and energy deployment management being insufficient as another. Spa is the track where it's extremely difficult for PU to get energy recovery&deployment right as you gain a lot of lap time at uphill parts here.
-Monza has even higher rate of full throttle than Spa, so we reckon we should not expect much there. Absolute output power alone does not make lap time, so considering today's situation (race), we're prepared that it will be severe. In terms of recovery energy, it will be even tougher at Monza than here at Spa.
-Regarding how to use remaining tokens, we think we have to make final decision by Italian GP, but we are in the middle of pondering strategy for Suzuka. Basically we would like to make our PU more competitive by improving ICE and increasing the engine power further. It would be nice if we could provide positive topics for Suzuka, but at this very moment we cannot say anything for certain yet.
Friday
-We have made changes to chassis on aero too, so there were many items to check. Were affected by interruptions of 3 red flags in FPs as well. Also telemetry went down once during running. So we were not able to complete the menu we had planned to carry out.
-Unable to make satisfactory verification on those modified(tokenized) parts of PU, so couldnt reach the stage where we work on deployment.
FP3
-(on Alonso's exhaust issue) We've modified exhaust as well along the changes made to ICE, but we dont think the cause is the new ICE. Most likely manufacturing issue on exhaust.
Race
-(on the new reg on race start procedure) There's no worry, no advice necessary for our experienced drivers
-(on JB's deployment issue) We have to investigate to find out what happened, but it could be data setting on energy charge, or MGU-H temp increased and generation decreased. Whatever it is, it wasnt hardware issue, and the issue was only temporary.
-We knew how the race would be like from Q1 result, but still it was tough race.
-There was no issue on fuel consumption"