The Spaniard has suffered reliability problems this year so needs to boost his pool of available engine components for the final six races of the season.

Honda has confirmed that Alonso is to run a new internal combustion engine, turbocharger, MGU-H, battery and control electronics in Sepang – which should be enough to see him through to the end of the campaign. The changes will likely put him to the back of the grid.

Included in the new components, Honda has elected to give Alonso updated parts too for evaluation during Friday free practice.

He will run a lighter engine block and a tweaked exhaust, aimed at improving efficiency, with Honda having spent two of its development tokens.

The changes leave Honda will just one remaining development token, which is unlikely to be used.

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