Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost says the progress Honda made with its Formula 1 power unit last year was overlooked.
Speaking to RaceFans in an exclusive interview after the team used Honda’s new spec-three engine to claim sixth and seventh on the grid at Suzuka, Tost said the Japanese manufacturer deserved the lion’s share of the credit for their result.
“It’s a combination of everything but the most important factor is of course the new engine upgrade from Honda,” he said. “They did a fantastic job, congratulations to them, very well done.”Honda returned to F1 with McLaren in 2015. The pair split last year after McLaren grew unhappy with their lack of results. However they have had a poor 2018 with customer Renault engines.
Today Toro Rosso scored its best qualifying performance since taking fourth and eighth in Australia last year. Tost said he expected Honda to come good when he agreed to use their engines a little over 12 months ago.
“You can buy everything in Formula 1 but not time,” said Tost. “Honda, the first year or so, was a little bit behind. This was the reason why in the beginning they had some problems with reliability and the performance of the engine.
“But last year the engine was already much, much better than all the people thought. This is what I knew because we analysed and watched the races. Therefore I was convinced that for us it’s the right decision.”
The team’s drivers must seize on their opportunity to strengthen their position in the constructors’ championship tomorrow, Tost added.
“The strategy is that they both have to push like hell because our direct opponents are very close, very fast.
“Fortunately it’s difficult to overtake here. That means if we do it clever, if we have a good start and if we have a proper strategy then we should be in a position tomorrow to really score good points because we need it. Sauber is closing up.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2018 F1 season
- McLaren staff told us we were “totally crazy” to take Honda engines in 2018 – Tost
- ‘It doesn’t matter if we start last’: How Red Bull’s junior team aided Honda’s leap forward
- Honda’s jet division helped F1 engineers solve power unit problem
- McLaren Racing losses rise after Honda split
- Ricciardo: Baku “s***show” was Red Bull’s fault
Sumedh
6th October 2018, 14:29
Indeed. Fernando had a run of 6 or 7 point finishes in the last 8 races if I am not wrong. That was clearly a case of a good engine held back by a poor chassis.
Here we are at Honda’s home track, a GP sponsored by Honda and McLaren forgot to even submit their tyre choices. And they thought they were better off without Honda. What a monumental blunder by McLaren.
socksolid (@socksolid)
6th October 2018, 17:08
What a horribly wrong decision by mclaren. This year so far they only have 93% more points than they had all of last year. Not even twice as much! What a massive downfall they are experiencing! Pretty poor accomplishment considering all the teams around them have gotten a lot faster and reliable. Renault factory team is much quicker than last year, haas has a killer car, sauber is quicker and force india is doing great as well. And toro rosso might get one good race result making life difficult for mclaren! Only need to finish a race (laughs in japanese). Against such weak competition what an abysmal season mclaren has gotten itself into. Just 6 retirements this year as well. What kind of rookie numbers are those? Last season they had a proper manly number of 13.
What I just wrote is obviously sarcasm. Ditching honda was the best thing mclaren has ever done and there is just one single fact that tells otherwise (money).
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
6th October 2018, 17:33
You seem odd.
Drewtopia
6th October 2018, 17:48
I think you have to look at the season in sections with mclaren. They were great in the early flyaway races then have dropped steadily since they introduced b spec aero in Spain. The ability to compare them to common engine users this year (RB, Renault) has done them no favors either
LB (@burden93)
6th October 2018, 20:39
McLaren do have more points, you’re correct to state that. However, last season they were talking about having a good enough chassis to challlenge red bull which they obviously haven’t done (they’ve sometimes been the slowest car in qualifying).
What this season has highlighted is that McLaren have some serious problems, and blaming Honda for all their failures was clearly incorrect.
You also haven’t taken into consideration how much the Honda engine may have improved (this is difficult to put a number on), but you could make the arguement that if Honda have improved their engine, McLaren could have 93% more points this season without the engine change
socksolid (@socksolid)
6th October 2018, 22:00
I think the numbers support the fact that mclaren’s chassis for this year was pretty poor one (although I’d love to see an article about whether it is true). They are faster than last year on fast engine dependent circuits whereas on more twisty tracks they are not as good compared to last year. And similarly the car in last year did put some good sector times in those parts of the track where the downforce mattered more than the engine. How much of that was mclaren having high downforce setup and how much of it was true pace is of course really difficult to tell. Not impossible because it is possible to look at the car how much and many wings there. Is there a monkey seat, how many elements on rear wing, how many on the front wing and so forth…
Fastest chassis in f1? I doubt it. Very good chassis? At least it did perform in the corners. The honda engine on the other hand? Total failure.
It was not all 100% honda’s fault but there is just no doubt that it was at least 80% honda’s fault. How can honda make so bad engine that after 3 years in the sport they can’t even survive the pre-season tests without having to use a silly number of engines. Was it 7 honda engines mclaren went though in pre-season tests? How can mclaren develop anything when the engine is broken all the time? By mid 2017 season honda had already used more engine parts you are technically allowed for the full season.
And we know the current honda is not even matching the renault yet. Not in power and definitely not in reliability. Which is really bad because the renault is not very reliable either. Who knows about harvesting, fuel consumption, drivability, party modes… And honda is still miles away. Just look at these numbers and tell me mclaren could have 93% more points with the honda engine:
https://maxf1.net/en/2018-f1-power-unit-elements-usage/
Manuel Falcao (@mfalcao)
6th October 2018, 22:42
McLaren got extremely lucky in the beginning of the season with all the problems that red bull had and Hass that were much faster then McLaren but got some stupid dnfs. It was quite clear that McLaren gave Honda instructions on how it wanted the engines built, the infamous size zero was McLaren idea and that combined with the token system in 15 and 16 made it impossible for Honda to improve the engine. Last year Honda built a completely new engine and started quite late (totally there fault) and the engine was not ready at the beginning of the season. And that’s were McLaren decided that they had enough. At that point it was a totally understandable decision.
But things started to get better with the season underway and McLaren started to get competitive by mid season and by the end of the season they were 4th fastest team on some circuits. This year was the opposite started 5 best team and is ending with the worst car on the grid.
McLaren are completely lost at the moment and people claiming they have double the points of last year to call this year a better year are delusional, this is a nightmare year for them as much as last year was, but this year is even worst because they don’t have the engine excuse anymore, they only have themselves to blame.
socksolid (@socksolid)
7th October 2018, 13:44
Mclaren got lucky by having dnfs…? I don’t even…
Mclaren was even willing to send techs to honda to help the engine development. Honda refused. Honda refused all help from mclaren. Your argument is not based on facts.
Which came from ron dennis who doesn’t design anything at mclaren. It was just a pr stunt. Not some huge failure. And why is it mclaren’s fault if honda promises to make a tightly packed engine and then totally fails at it? Do you think mclaren just sent an email to honda with the words “make it this big” and then they wait until preseason tests to see whether it fits in the car? Your argument is not based on facts. You remember when honda in every year said they were going to match mercedes?
Yeah, I’m sure it was a total surprise when honda built a bad engine and then they found out there is this token system. And that is mclaren’s fault? HAHAHA
Where?
And here comes the ad hominems. What a drivel of a post…
Eoin (@eoin16)
7th October 2018, 0:28
Why do you consider the teams you listed as “such weak competition”?
What has McLaren done to consider themselves so superior? Let’s look at some trends for a minute…
2011: strong car out of the box (THE LAST TIME THIS AS HAPPENED)
2012: season saved after preseason testing with a last minute, untested, new exhaust layout in Oz
2013: Dog of a car despite finishing 2012 with arguably the best car. But McLaren said the development cycle has peaked…their first warning that the areo Dept were losing their way
2014: slowest of the Merc engine cars
2015-2017: Blame Honda for everything while shouting for all to hear that they have the best chassis in F1
2018: Slowest of the Renault engine cars and left with no engine partner to blame. Remember the stated benchmark this year RBR!
So please tell me who the inferior team is when compared to the Force India for example? Let’s not look at resources either because that is really embarrassing for McSlowly!
Basically the arrogance of the F1 team seems to have crept into your post here…this fantasy world where McLaren see themselves as a big team and all around them are inferior. Fact is, McLaren have been in a consistent state of decline since 2012/13 and the trend hasn’t change with THREE different engine manufacturers
Their list of “savior’s” in that time have included; Ron Dennis’ return, the new regs for 2014, new regs for 2017, Peter Prodromou from RBR, Eric Boullier, Honda return, Alonso return, Pat Fry return. All these saviors but why does such a superior team need so many of them if they face “such weak competition”??? And let’s not forget about all the “next big thing” drivers they’ve had…Perez, KMag, Stoffel and now Lando. All very good drivers smothered by McLaren (hopefully Lando is the exception but again…trends)
McLaren are NOT a big team anymore, they have a big history, they have not been competitive in any way, shape or form since 2013, the best and most functional part of their team is the PR Dept.
You can blame Honda all you want but McLaren have been lost at sea before and now after Honda. Do you really still want to blame Honda for everything? You said this years car is a bad one, but when was their last good one?? Or do you think that in 2013,2014&2018 were just bad cars and during the Honda years they magically produced grid beating cars??? How unfortunate is that?? Or maybe they were blowing smoke during the Honda years because they refused to have a shred of humility and be introspective of their own performance because it was easier to blame Honda?
You can look at points from last year all you want but the real numbers you should be looking at are McLaren’s championship position since 2011 (2nd, 3rd, 5th, 5th, 9th, 6th, 9th)
What does that say about McSlowly with all their resources and facing “such weak competition”?
Mark (@mrcento)
6th October 2018, 21:50
It’s true that the engine wasn’t as bad as painted, but it’s also not true last years McLaren Chassis was “horrible”. The truth is somewhere in the middle, the engine was not as bad as said, the chassis wasn’t as good as said.
In McLarens heads, it was all engine, and with the same power unit, they’d be there or thereabout Red Bull. This years Chassis is worse than last years, it doesn’t mean it was always that bad, the compromises made to fit the Renault Unit just haven’t helped and they never recognised the weaknesses it did have. As a result they’ve ended up with a worse handling car, with less downforce and more drag than ever.
The old chassis IMO had the same fundamental issue as this years, the drag. Making the engine look a complete dog on fast sections. But on twistier/more technical sections of track, it was probably still the 4th best on the grid towards the end of the season, you don’t get that with a horrible chassis. Nor do you get it with a dog of an engine, it still requires at least decent driveability.
But let’s also not lose sight of the fact that in a car with less drag, the Honda engine (at least before Japan), was still the worst on the grid. And McLaren, with a worse version of it weren’t that bad at the tail end of last season. Again showing the truth was actually somewhere in the middle.
Toro Rosso’s 6th and 7th place were partly fortuitous with the timing of their laps in the rain and others issues. On pace they are still probably 3rd slowest team, albeit in a close race with those ahead of them now. The Honda unit is better, probably now marginally better than Renault and probably with more potential than Renault too. It looks good for Red Bull moving forward and highlights the ridiculousness and arrogance of McLaren, but at the same time, long term probably the best thing that could have happened to them.
Imagine another year like the last 3 this year with a slow car and them blindly saying the engine was pants?, at least now they’ve lost the excuse and have been sufficiently embarrassed that they know where the greater problems lie.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
6th October 2018, 14:40
Well, they tried paying for postage using Freddos.
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
6th October 2018, 15:54
@phylyp @johnmilk ‘s defiance i sense in you. Need that, you do not.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
6th October 2018, 15:57
@mrboerns – I am but a Padawan in the face of @johnmilk ‘s skills. :-)
Joao (@johnmilk)
6th October 2018, 17:21
@phylyp a seat on the council is yours. Not always a padawan, a Jedi you will be.
Plus we don’t need another political debacle, and I don’t want you killing any younglings
Phylyp (@phylyp)
6th October 2018, 17:42
:-)
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
6th October 2018, 14:45
It looks sort of odd seeing the two Toro Rosso – Honda cars near the front of the grid, so I hope the race results can show this wasn’t just a fluke result due to the weather.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
6th October 2018, 14:46
It does kinda look that way, doesn’t it? I mean McLaren seem slower overall this year than they were last year while Toro Rosso seem a little bit faster. Perhaps it’s still early days but I think McLaren might come to really regret ditching Honda, especially if Red Bull do start winning races with it next year.
Philip (@philipgb)
6th October 2018, 15:18
It was different at the beginning of the season though. It looked like Toro Rosso built a better chassis but took a step back due to the power unit, whereas McLaren built a worse chassis but took a step forward due to the power unit.
Through the season Honda seems to have improved more than Renault, but at best may be on the same level as one another. Toro Rosso seem to have developed their chassis more than McLaren as well though.
Ultimately McLaren dumping Honda is going to be a mistake, but that doesn’t mean the Honda unit wasn’t the worst at the start of the season
Adam (@rocketpanda)
6th October 2018, 15:38
Really? I’m not so sure – I mean I can’t imagine McLaren would build a worse car than Toro Rosso, or that Toro Rosso would be able to effectively outdevelop McLaren. It does however on the face of it appear that the Honda unit is progressing better than the Renault one. I’d rather wish all four engines were more equal on power though.
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
6th October 2018, 15:59
@rocketpanda well you might as well get used to it.
And just for thought, imagine McLaren was the only Renault team. Would be quite easy to come to the conclusion the Renault is pretty bad, right? I mean how often can you actually judge from the outside why a car is parking up?
I think it is high time to accept that the Honda may have also been badly compromised by the Mclaren attached to it.
Henry
6th October 2018, 18:03
“I think it is high time to accept that the Honda may have also been badly compromised by the Mclaren attached to it.”
To a point true, but McLaren isn’t the blame for the countless amount of engine failures. How can a chassis be improved when it is pathetically slow and sits in the paddock more than on the track?
Honda’s improvements are mainly due to the fact they swallowed their pride and brought Ilmor in late last year to help them. Should have done it from the outset.
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
6th October 2018, 18:15
Well i think this is where you might be wrong. Just remember testing this year. The Mclaren kept breaking down while other Renaults didn’t. How can you say it wasn’t in part Mclarens doing that lead to failure after failue?
anon
6th October 2018, 16:05
@rocketpanda, quite a few teams curtailed development of their cars fairly early on in 2019 – McLaren, having gone down something of a wrong route earlier in the season, abandoned development fairly early and have been using some of the recent races to test parts for the 2019 season instead.
Similarly, Renault stopped developing their current car a few races ago, and Haas have also slowed down development too – Williams were probably one of the first to abandon their 2018 car, as we saw them testing 2019 spec parts during the mid season test sessions – and I believe that Sauber have slowed development too.
To some extent, the main teams that are pushing on with development this late in the season are Toro Rosso and Force India, and in the case of the latter quite a few of those updates are development parts which were in the pipeline, but where development was behind schedule due to the financial problems of the team.
That does mean that, whilst Toro Rosso do look fairly good at the moment, there is a question of how much is down just to the engine and how much is because the car is being developed at a point in the season where most of their rivals haven’t been developing their cars for some time.
AJ
6th October 2018, 17:03
TR only brought a significant upgrade this year, at Austria RB ring and it didn’t work so they reverted back… The car is basically the same one as in Australia. In terms of chassis/aero upgrade it’s the least developed car of the grid… Saying that some teams are concentrated in developing the 2019 car is just a looser’s excuse. Even TR said before the season started that their main focus this year were to develop the 2019 car, so they can have a perfectly adapted chassis to their new engine provider, and they weren’t expected to do much work on this year car. A package is expected for Austin tho, guess it’s the same package that should have worked in Austria but revised.
georgeboole (@)
6th October 2018, 17:23
Agreed anon
I m pretty sure too that McLaren has stopped trying to make the worst car they ever made a bit faster.
And i m also convienced that the Torro Rosso aero had a bit of help from the Red Bull.
Still what we have to wait and see is how Honda will react to Red Bull’s criticism and pursue of results. Torro Rosso never was and will never be a winning team so the pressure is much less.
To a conclusion, i tend to believe that while Honda got better it still is not as fast or reliable as Red Bull will want. Wish i m wrong though. And i m a McLaren fan (dont know for how long now…)
w0o0dy
6th October 2018, 17:32
Toro Rosso has developed the car in the wrong direction over the season so the engine is actuqlly further ahead of Renault than people assume. Renaults engine is now less powerful, breaks more often and has worse driveability. So Renault will need huge steps to not be the laughing stock in 2019.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
6th October 2018, 15:21
@philipgb – I agree with your assessment, that definitely seems to be how this season started.
Angela (@angie)
6th October 2018, 18:16
georgeboole (@georgeboole) “Torro Rosso never was and will never be a winning team” What is your definition of a winning team? To me if you win a race in formula one then you are a winning team and Torro Rosso have won a race so I think that your comment is wide of the mark.
georgeboole (@)
6th October 2018, 22:41
@angie we all know that Torro Rosso is Red Bulls junior team used to create new talented drivers for them and/or as a test bed for future use. Nothing more. Nothing less. A random victory over the years does not make you a winning team.
BasCB (@bascb)
6th October 2018, 21:24
Yeah, it certainly does look that way.
I can understand how Tost wants to highlight how they made a good desicion last year, but really I am sceptical. Also because this engine was tested last weekend and immediately taken out again to solve some issues with it. Now it’s ran great on Saturday (Gasly’s issue was not completely engine related, was it?) but let’s see how long it lasts.
The Renault C-spec is also supposed to be a lot faster (it has a quali boost mode) but as unreliable as Renault warned RBR it would probably be, so having a fast engine is not everything.
I also think that Honda DOES have a quali mode – just look at how McLaren often qualified somewhat respectable but dropped backin the races. We’ve often seen something similar with STR so far this year where they qualified well, but often were not able to do as good in races.
BasCB (@bascb)
7th October 2018, 8:06
Look how the sunday went. Neither car in the points and down the field. Sure, a bad start contributed for Hartley. And we find out that this engine is so good that Gasly couldn’t run full power because of an issue. And that wasthe first race weekend with this “imporoved” engine. I still remain sceptical
Phylyp (@phylyp)
6th October 2018, 15:58
Pretty cheeky to have a picture where the center reads “McLaren – World’s Fastest” :-) Nicely done, Keith.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
6th October 2018, 22:26
Yes, it’s like you see shops advertising “Our prices are cheaper”, but they don’t tell you what their prices are cheaper than.
Estesark (@estesark)
6th October 2018, 16:01
McLaren are pretty much the laughing stock of the paddock now. I fear for them next year without Alonso. Things might have to get even worse before they get better.
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
6th October 2018, 16:04
Well things didn’t get better for Team Lotus. Or Brabham. Or Tyrell (kindof). Or BRM.
Joao (@johnmilk)
6th October 2018, 23:30
@mrboerns but neither of those teams had Alonso leaving them, so there’s hope I guess
OOliver
6th October 2018, 16:20
Mclaren need a fresh start. Either a brand new car, or go back and use data from 2010 – 2012 as a base from which to get their car design philosophy.
Everything they’ve done since that era had just been flat out rubbish. Much like they’ve got their data mixed up somehow.
iCarbs (@icarby)
6th October 2018, 16:56
Honda was only going to get better, Red Bull stole an opportunity at Mclaren’s expense. Mclaren will regret it. I’m quietly confident that the relationship with RedBull and Honda will be one that will at least propel them to 2nd for 2019. With any luck we’ll see a better championship battle to the end.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
6th October 2018, 17:39
+1
w0o0dy
6th October 2018, 17:44
Both Honda and RedBull are pumping serious money and effort in the new project. Toro Rosso will be using as much from RedBull’s car as they are allowed. So a stronger Toro Rosso next year and 4 car to develop the engine. Maybe even use Toro Rosso as testbed for software updates.. I think RedBull will be a tile contender next year.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
7th October 2018, 0:18
I really hope so, I’m TIRED of mercedes winning everything, they got enough.
The title is lost for ferrari but I was hoping at least they’d want to prove to have brought a better car than last year, but currently the pace isn’t there, still only 5 wins for ferrari and 3 for red bull, it’s just like last year, no improvement vs mercedes unless they win more.
So a very strong red bull could be a good thing, if ferrari is as good as it’s been for the first half it could be a lot more pressure for mercedes, also cause of leclerc.
A shame ricciardo decided to leave red bull, he was absolutely a good driver, not sure gasly will achieve the same as him.
Wayne
6th October 2018, 17:46
I partialy agree with iCarbs. Mclaren reli dropped the ball. Honda only had (has) an upward/forward trajectory.where as renault are unable to improve. Ron was right by taking honda. Zak was wrong by dropping honda. Mclaren should have had a 3 year and then 5 year plan. Instead they seemed to have had no plan at all. They should have been realistic and accepted that honda will lag in speed and reliability in the first few years. But given time they will be competitive. Very disappointed for mclaren. More so that ron dennis is gone. As lewis said this is stil rons team. Ron made mclaren MCLAREN. now zak and the shareholderss are making it a lower team struggling for everything.no vision. They no longer exist to win. You can see that by the continued choices and mismanagement.
Jan
6th October 2018, 18:26
You’d think Torro Rosso had won a WCC by the way they are acting. I understand their glee but they were 2.2 seconds behind Hamilton after all and a second behind Max (with a Renault engine). Not that RBR won’t be faster than Torro Rosso, but it’s a little early to be popping the champagne.
On a side note, for Torro Rosso to belittle Alonso by the “we can fight” comment (again) on social media today seems a bit childish and classless. I’m not a fan of him personally, but he is a great driver who will be missed by any non-biased F1 fan. Not necessary in my opinion.
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
6th October 2018, 19:09
Especially against Alonso, who has time and again proven to be synonymous with class, a true gentleman that would bring tears to the eyes of Graham Hill
Phylyp (@phylyp)
6th October 2018, 19:17
And I get this from you :-P
All I can say in response is this.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
6th October 2018, 19:18
@mrboerns
Wyatt
6th October 2018, 20:42
And Hammy too:)
José Lopes da Silva
6th October 2018, 19:21
I think Honda has all the right to reply to all the crap it received from Alonso, from 2015 to – amazingly – Australia 2018.
Jan
6th October 2018, 20:40
@Jose and Phylyp
It might not seem irrelevant, but out of curiosity, how would you answer the question below. Either yes or no?
Judging from their past behavior, do you think HAM or Max would have reacted any better in his circumstances? Keep in mind he had 8 DNF’s and 1 DNS in 2015 and 12 DNF’s in 2017? Yea or nay?
Thanks.
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
6th October 2018, 20:48
i know i know, you didn’t ask me, but to your point probably not better really, differently maybe, but that said neither of them is what i’d call a gentleman and class isn’t necessarily the first attribute that comes to mind for them as well, really.
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
6th October 2018, 20:53
But neither Hamilton nor Verstappen kept their manager who made their teammate crash in order for their strategy to work and hence commited the most blatant act of cheating in the sports history to date, which would have to be interpreted as them condoning his actions, so they have that going for them. Which is nice.
Jan
7th October 2018, 1:15
@ MrBoerns
Thanks for answering. I really believe neither Lewis or Max couldn’t have kept it together as well as ALO and in fact it would have been a bigger spectacle. Especially with Max and his father!
As far as Crashgate goes, even though I don’t think Alonso was told, I’m sure he figured it out. But I don’t think it was to get him a win but a means of getting $ for the team to stay afloat. A good point about ALO keeping Flavio as his manager – not a good decision to say the least.
As far as the worst case of cheating in sports – can’t agree with that.
Cheers…
Phylyp (@phylyp)
7th October 2018, 2:49
Jan – I’m sure there’d be complaints. They’re not going to sit quietly on it, for sure. However, they will be more nuanced in how they phrase their criticism.
Hamilton might end up moaning over the radio. However, beyond that, I’d expect him to give reasoned responses. Max has already shown himself to maturely criticize the Renault PU without resorting to cheap shots (pretty sure that’s also down to his media handlers).
Alonso’s criticisms seem jeering. Snide. Basically the kind of manner you’d expect from an immature school bully. His radio messages are definitely not the kind to inspire.
Jan
8th October 2018, 0:01
You are delusional…no offense.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
6th October 2018, 22:24
Nice words about Honda, but come 2019, Horner will be fuming if they don’t get their act toggether…
Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
7th October 2018, 2:03
No worries. By this time next season, Honda will only have eaten 5 or 6 power units. Unlike this year where they’re on #7 in Hartley’s car.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
7th October 2018, 3:38
@jimmi-cynic – yeah, that’s a good point. With this new spec-3 engine supposedly fast, I hope the attention can then turn to improving its reliability to the level of the Ferrari/Merc PUs, before RBR/Honda make another push on power.
There’s no fun to be had if the RBR starts 2019 like a scalded cat, but a third of the season through ends up making recovery drives due to engine penalties.
Rafael (@rafael-o)
7th October 2018, 2:36
While I am one of those who attributed the lack of success of the revived McLaren-Honda project largely to Honda, it’s good to see the Japanese manufacturer coming good.
I still believe McLaren were right to split with Honda, at least now they are able to acknowledge and resolve their inherent weaknesses as an individual organization. Since despite the Woking team’s lackluster campaigns in 2013 and 2014, I think Honda’s disastrous product of a PU in 2015 disrupted McLaren’s “soul searching” process, and instead diverted all resources/focus to addressing the Japanese manufacturer’s (more pressing) deficiencies. Same story in 2017 when Honda re-designed their PU layout, after mastering and improving the 2015 design in 2016.
I think the 2nd coming of the McLaren-Honda partnership was doomed to fail, the moment Ron Dennis/Eric Boullier arranged that “press conference” in Monza 2015; where they incited the Western/British press to attack Yasuhisa Arai (then head of Honda F1) and guilt-trip him into “apologizing” to McLaren and its drivers especially.
Can’t say I blame Ron and Eric (and Alonso) at the time, though. Throughout 2015, Mr. Arai kept making bold outrageous promises/statements that the latest upgrades/tweaks to their PU would vastly improve its competitiveness (e.g. “in Spa we expect to be on level with Ferrari” or “we are more powerful than Renault) — only for all of it to fail in spectacular fashion. Similarly, they rejected/rebuffed McLaren’s offers and ideas to help them improve. It never probably helped either, that Honda were coming off a tarnished reputation, after an unsuccessful and clumsy spell as an engine + chassis manufacturer during the 2000s.
It’s great to see Honda coming good. And I say that, despite being an Alonso fan and an admirer of McLaren (Ron Dennis). But a big reason they improved this year is because (like McLaren) the brutal divorce forced them to change (they allegedly “Westernized” their culture this year, to better fit with the demands of F1). Difference is, they’re just doing a much better job than their ex.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
7th October 2018, 3:40
@rafael-o – Fully agreed. And if RBR start reaping benefits, it must be realized that it is built atop lessons learnt from the 2015-2017 debacle – lessons for both Honda, and the constructor using their engines.
greg-c (@greg-c)
7th October 2018, 5:00
Anyone watching the Bathurst 1000 V8 Supercars?