Fernando Alonso will arrive in Malaysia without facing the immediate prospect of grid penalties after Honda confirmed his car's engine survived the heavy crash which prematurely ended his Singapore Grand Prix.
Alonso missed out on what he felt was at least a podium finish after being caught up in the first-corner collision involving Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen. The contact forced the Spaniard to retire from the race.
The crash raised fears Alonso's car would require a new engine, and therfore incur a grid penalty, in Malaysia but Honda's investigations have concluded that will not be necessary.
"Regarding Fernando's Singapore power unit, we were concerned that it may have been irreparably damaged, but fortunately after a thorough check back at the Sakura factory we can confirm it is okay to be re-used," Honda chief Yusuke Hasegawa said.
In Singapore, McLaren showed its strongest performance of the year at a circuit which masked the deficiencies of its Honda power unit. McLaren is aiming for a top-ten qualifying shootout berth again in Malaysia but team boss Eric Boullier is not ignoring the realities of the Sepang circuit.
"We will of course be pushing for Q3 on Saturday - as we have done over the past couple of races -- but this circuit is unlikely to be as kind to us as Singapore in terms of outright lap-times," Boullier said. "As ever, reliability will be key in these tough conditions, as points are only ever possible with a reliable car, as will avoiding any first-lap chaos, which is always easier said than done."