F1: Red Bull's Honda Engine Was Updated At Belgium GP

Red Bull and Honda have revealed that Max Verstappen has used a new energy store since the Belgian GP something which was secretively deployed by Mercedes which was perhaps the reason why Red Bull was so close to Mercedes at  Monza. Like Ferrari, Honda despite introducing a new engine didn't deploy all the homologation elements of the engine in one go. Honda revealed that the energy store was something it has been working on since 2015 and the plan was it to introduce it for the 2022 engine update which wouldn't have the Honda branding, however, it decided to bring the update forward in order to help Max Verstappen beat Lewis Hamilton. 

''This new ES has been developed in a project that has taken several years, with an aim to combine improvements in energy efficiency with significant reductions in weight. In what will be the company's final season in the sport, Honda F1 has managed to introduce the new ES - fitted with a lighter, low-resistance, highly efficient and ultra-high power battery cell - just in time for the start of the second half of the season,'' Honda's head of development, Yasuaki Asaki, said in the Honda message.

Max Verstappen received the new energy store at the Belgium GP 

''In order to achieve the ultimate goal of defeating Mercedes and winning the championship before leaving F1 at the end of the 2021 season, we recognised the need to enhance performance. As such, the development plan for the new ES was brought forward substantially from the original goal of 2022 to introduction during the 2021 season,'' Asaki concluded.

It has been revealed that this energy store is lighter and more efficient with regards to the battery that gives Red Bull a nice leg up over Mercedes. Mercedes still has the most potent engine but it seems like Honda has further closed the gap. 

Apart from Honda, even Ferrari is going to soon have an engine update which could add as much as 15 bhp of power which would more or less eliminate the gulf its engine has with Honda and Mercedes.