Alonso set to get new engine for Sunday

The Spaniard stopped with problems in Friday's second practice session, and then was left stranded after being told to halt his car on his first lap out of the pits in qualifying.

Honda suspects that both issues may have been caused by a quality control issue, but the full answer will not come until the engines have been investigated back at their factories.

However, as a precaution, it is set to give Alonso a brand new latest specification power unit for the Interlagos race.

When asked by Motorsport.com about the trouble Honda had faced, Honda F1 chief Yasuhisa Arai said: "We had yesterday trouble for Fernando's car and although I am not sure right now, I guess that we had trouble in the United States Grand Prix with Fernando's car in the last 10 laps and maybe the combustion chamber, the engine head, has some damage. That maybe was the route cause.

"Today, I am not sure. Suddenly, the water temperature for cooling the engine is extremely up on that lap, so still we are under investigation right now. But maybe we will change the engine tonight."

Arai confirmed that it would be one of the latest specification power units that would be fitted, rather than reverting to the old engines.

"We prepared the new spec engine and both troubles may be a quality issue with some parts," he said. "So it is not an overall reliability trouble I guess."

With Alonso already starting at the back of the grid, any penalty will not result in a change of his grid position.