Honda said to have found 220 horsepower during off season

Honda has reportedly aced the winter off-season following the Japanese carmaker's woeful return to Formula 1 last year with McLaren.

That is the claim of Manuel Franco, the F1 correspondent for the Spanish sports daily AS, writes that the Honda power unit for 2016 is an incredible 223 horsepower stronger than the one with which Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button toiled with miserably last season.

He said the feat has been achieved by closing the 70 horse power gap to the leading internal combustion engines of 2015, plus solving the 163hp deficit caused by Honda's troublesome energy recovery systems.

"Sakura, the Honda factory in Japan, has worked 24 hour shifts without Christmas holidays," wrote Franco, amid other reports suggesting the McLaren chassis has passed the FIA crash tests.

The positive speculation about McLaren-Honda's preparations also appear to be leaking into the world of bookmaking, with UOL saying Alonso is listed as the fourth favourite for the 2016 world championship.

Ahead of him are the two Mercedes drivers and Sebastian Vettel, with Alonso tied with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and ahead of the Williams and Red Bull drivers.

El Mundo Deportivo, meanwhile, says the first MP4-31 chassis is now being assembled at Woking, after the chassis passed the FIA's frontal crash test at the weekend.

The report said the new McLaren has a short, Red Bull-like front nose, and similar 'size zero' packaging as in 2015.

This season the Woking squad will be going all out to rebound from their worst season in history, which coincided with their reunification with Honda - a partnership which dominated Formula 1 from 1988 to 1991.