Honda looking for big improvement at Spa-Francorchamps

[Jordan Wilkins]

This weekend's upcoming Belgian Grand Prix will be culmination of a very hard three week Summer break for the Honda engineers and the McLaren team they power. Whilst the factory gates have been shut for the teams the past three weeks, Honda have been working throughout the break to bring their updated engine to Spa.

The Honda engineers will bring a new engine with an increased power output, which they have publicly stated they hope can match the power output from the current Ferrari power unit. This is bold statement considering the Honda power unit has been the worst on the grid this year, whilst the Ferrari power unit is best of the rest behind the dominant Mercedes power plant.

Honda have decided to try and capitalize on their double points finish in Hungry, of which Fernando Alonso gave them their best finish of the year with 5th overall. The team have decided to use some of their remaining seven engine tokens for this weekend, hoping to vastly increase their power figures without harming their fragile reliability.

Honda motorsport boss Yasuhisa Arai made reference to his hopes the increased will not compromise their reliability when speaking to F1i.com recently. He stated "We will increase the power output, but at the same time we have to check the reliability because if the power is going to go that high then maybe some areas are a little bit weak. We have to check."

Honda are clearly quietly confident about their new, more powerful engine they will bring this weekend. Their timing is crucial also with the upcoming Belgian and Italian Grand Prix, which are held at Spa and Monza, both very much power circuits.Whilst the Honda engineers are rightly cautious about the effects the extra power may have on the overall reliability of their power unit.

If Honda's new engine can stay reliable throughout the race weekend, McLaren will be rightly hoping the increased power from their Honda power unit will propel them to another double points finish as they look to build some positive momentum after a very difficult first year of their partnership with Honda.

A double points finish would also be a major statement from Honda itself, as the Spa circuit is mostly centered around having a very powerful engine, save for the technical second sector. For Honda, Spa will be a good warm up for them and their new power unit, although the real litmus test will be the all out speedbowl that is the Monza circuit.

Will Honda's new power unit prove the step up both McLaren and Honda need if they want to return to their much loved position at the front of the grid? Please feel free to comment below with your thoughts.

 

[Torcano]

I really hope they didn't sacrifice what little reliability they got going for them in the name of speed. Won't get my hopes up to start cheering and say they are out of the frying pan just yet simply because of all this "power" talk, this weekend is surely gonna be their trial by fire.

 

[Iain McKenzie]

Well, they aren't very reliable or fast. Better to be at least one than none, so let's hope they're faster than before.

 

[Spinelli]

Just take a grid penalty every race but build your engine to as powerful and light as it can to only last 1 race. I don't understand why teams haven't been doing that ever since the draconian engine rules came out a few years back.

 

[Dan Allen]

Well, all I can say is good luck to McLaren! Looking at where they were in the first half of the season (and last year), any improvement would be a big improvement! Would be nice to see Jenson back to his winning ways

 

[Milos]

Nando and Jenson will score a 1-2 finish in Spa.
YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!!!

 

[the_sigman]

Nando and Jenson will score a 11-12 finish in Spa.
YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!!!

Maybe you have keyboard problems. Fixed.

 

[Milos]

nah, they'll finish 21-22 on a 20 car field

 

[Diogo Goetz Brand]

Just take a grid penalty every race but build your engine to as powerful and light as it can to only last 1 race. I don't understand why teams haven't been doing that ever since the draconian engine rules came out a few years back.

Even if they could overcome the grid place loss by having a better performing engine, the FIA would probably just instate a fine or new penalty to disencourage teams from doing that.

 

[luis.s]

Nando and Jenson will score a 1-2 finish in Spa.
YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!!!

That'd be impressive starting from the back of the grid: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/34008319 s
I think this is more likely:

nah, they'll finish 21-22 on a 20 car field

Re: the article. I'll believe it when I see it. I do really want to see Alonso, Button and McLaren at the front, but various people at McLaren have said so many times this season that there will be big improvements soon, and we are yet to see much.

 

[Spinelli]

Even if they could overcome the grid place loss by having a better performing engine, the FIA would probably just instate a fine or new penalty to disencourage teams from doing that.

I agree but due to the intense competition in F1, I'm extremely suprised noone has done this yet aftet all these years. Or even to only last 2 races and just pretend you have an unreliable engine. It doesnt have to be known that the engine has been purposely designed that way.

 

[Diogo Goetz Brand]

I agree but due to the intense competition in F1, I'm extremely suprised noone has done this yet aftet all these years. Or even to only last 2 races and just pretend you have an unreliable engine. It doesnt have to be known that the engine has been purposely designed that way.

I also thought about that, but there are some reasons not to do this:
You would have to develop a whole new engine to the specifications of "high performance without reliability", which would cost a lot of money, and if somebody found out about it you would have to scrap the whole project.
Even with a better engine, overcoming grid losses wouldn't be easy.
With the added power things like tyre wear would become issues, making you pit more and therefore lose a lot of the time advantage gained with the added power.
The simple cost of replacing a power unit every race or race weekend would be very high.
With the current fuel limitations it would be very hard to extract any more power from the power unit, even if you didn't have to worry about reliability.

 

[Spinelli]

If the car is designed to handle the power I don't think it would make much difference to tyre wear and therefore pitstops in my opinion. The Mercedes cars don't have worse tyre wear than the Renault or even the McLaren. With DRS plus much more power in the first place, covering grid losses would be very easy at 90% of race tracks in my opinion.

The only thing that could be a problem is fuel flow restrictions, but even then, look at the difference in power, for example, from the Renault at the very first race of 2014, to the current mid-season 2015 Mercedes engine. It's a huge difference. There are very big gains to be made even with the fuel flow restrictions.

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

I really hope they didn't sacrifice what little reliability they got going for them in the name of speed. Won't get my hopes up to start cheering and say they are out of the frying pan just yet simply because of all this "power" talk, this weekend is surely gonna be their trial by fire.

I'm sure it's going to involve fire in one way or the other...

 

[Alberto Casado]

I think they are still looking for the improvements. Spa is a big circuit, maybe behind the trees they will find something...

 

[Milos]

indeed, considering they are nowhere near Ferrari, I hope they know something we don't know.

 

[f.1.]

I think there's starting to be a crack in the pearl in the Mclaren/Honda relationship. It could be down to a clash of culture or communication but Mclaren's desire to be at the top again is not within the time frame that Honda expects to be successful. Not to generalize (and maybe someone from the forum that is Japanese can help explain) but it seems that Honda seems to pride itself too much and that is what's causing them to be blind to the facts and make any progress. The blame has been thrown around by both parties but how can Honda expect Mclaren to improve their chassis if they can't get consistent, valuable running out of the car with an underpowered PU. Once Honda steps up their game Mclaren can rectify their chassis, which doesn't seem too perfect aerodynamically as they play it out to be.

 

[Milos]

Disagree about the chassis and Monaco has proven that. It may not be the best but it's up there.

 

[Spinelli]

I think there's starting to be a crack in the pearl in the Mclaren/Honda relationship. It could be down to a clash of culture or communication but Mclaren's desire to be at the top again is not within the time frame that Honda expects to be successful

I don't agree. The other teams were working on these new engines as much as 3 years prior to the 2014 season from what I heard. So don't you think it's amazing for Honda to be where they're at right now? Comparing the Honda engine at present to the other engines at present is completely unfair.

 

[Iain McKenzie]

I doubt they'll be any major changes this year. It's obvious they're saying "Oh yeah improvements are coming" to keep morale and hope up. Nothing will change this year, next year is what they're focussing on.