McLaren to switch to Honda engines

[Grizzly]

I tend to think that (in no small part due to the Honda announcement) merc have been exceptionally cagey with engine information, especially as far as McLaren are concerned and this is nicely illustrated by the fact that it was just a handful of days before homologation that merc announced to customers the entire layout of the induction system and H-ERS was different to what had been provided to the teams as blueprinted!

 

[soccerman17]

But McLaren can't even make a good car with the engine its designed for right now

 

[Mephistopheles]

Nobody can argue with that...

 

[teabagyokel]

This is not Brawn being canny with the 2008-09 summer and spending a year where Honda had no hope building a little stunner for 2009.

The time to move was last summer, I really doubt that Honda can overhaul the experience Mercedes have of running 8 cars in this formula for a year.

I fear Button will get a dose of 2007 deja vu as Maldonado goes past him (or clean into the back of him) in a Lotus-Mercedes.

I hope I'm wrong, because Wolff-squad need a challenge.

 

[Il_leone]

Honda have had a year to analyse the data from Mclaren so I don't expect them to be caught flat footed like Renault in the power stakes

 

[RasputinLives]

Lets just hope it doesn't all go a bit Peugeot.

 

[teabagyokel]

We're not compsring them to Renault though; for this to be effective Honda need to be better than Mercedes. Who have also had a year to analyse less restricted data from a range of machinery, while picking up the experience of running it.

Honda might make an awesome engine, but they'd be overcoming disadvantages in doing so.

 

[Il_leone]

I am sure both ROn and Honda will know what is stake for 2015 and will not accept being also rans

 

[The Pits]

I think that Honda's understanding of Hybrid technology will be of benefit, this was an area of significant development for them prior to 2009, and one of the reasons for the huge budget for their 2009 contender, despite never being used.

Efficiency numbers have been quoted for the Honda KERS which never was, far in excess of anything Merc have been able to achieve in the interim.

If they can get the ICE part of the engine right, I would expect them to be ahead of Renault and Ferrari.

Whether they can be on par or ahead of Merc is less clear.

I would still add that McLaren have a probably harder job of turning out a car worthy of a decent engine, which they have failed to do so far this season.

 

[FB]

I would venture that McLaren have failed to produce a really decent chassis since 2008 and the design information behind that car was dubious. There was a comment on here earlier about Honda's previous ventures in to F1 being with a lesser team (Spirit used the first turbo engine they made in a modified F2 chassis if I recall). Maybe McLaren have sunk so low these days they are Honda's test bed before moving on to a winning team?

 

[Il_leone]

FB There is only one other winning team Honda could turn to and that is Red Bull seeing they will be located in very close proximity of each other as Williams and Lotus are tied to long term engine deals

Mclaren's 2012 chassis was actually very good but they kept making operational errors

 

[Road of Bones]

The 2010 car wasn't bad either...

 

[The Pits]

2012 was apparently an accident.

 

[Il_leone]

The Pits Indeed when it got them the most wins

 

[teabagyokel]

An undevelopable accident, iirc. 2012 was a weird year all round, but McLaren probably should have won the lot.

 

[Shogun]

I think that Honda's understanding of Hybrid technology will be of benefit, this was an area of significant development for them prior to 2009, and one of the reasons for the huge budget for their 2009 contender, despite never being used.

Efficiency numbers have been quoted for the Honda KERS which never was, far in excess of anything Merc have been able to achieve in the interim.

If they can get the ICE part of the engine right, I would expect them to be ahead of Renault and Ferrari.

Whether they can be on par or ahead of Merc is less clear.

I would still add that McLaren have a probably harder job of turning out a car worthy of a decent engine, which they have failed to do so far this season.

Exactly. Like I said a couple days ago, Honda has forgotten more about hybrids than Merc, Renault and Ferrari will ever know. The move to hybrid technology is actually one of the major reasons why Honda decided to get back into F1. Im not saying that Honda is going to come in and set the world on fire but I do think they will be competitive.

 

[cider_and_toast]

The performance window for modern F1 cars is so narrow these days, you've either got a real winner or a right clunker out of the box. The rules are then designed to keep it that way until the next season.

Get it wrong and Honda will feel it for the entire year, find the sweet spot from the first minute and they should be right up there.

I stil think the chances are more likely the former than the latter but I've got the recipe for a wonderful "Humble pie" which I can knock up at short notice.

 

[Il_leone]

cider_and_toast
The difference I hope this time is Honda will be concentrated solely on designing powerful engines like in Williams and Mclaren days as the days of BAR/Jordan/ Honda F1 team was more focused on being able to sell more road cars

 

[RasputinLives]

Haven't Honda come back in because F1's switch to Hybrid engines is more in line with the work Honda do on their road cars though?

 

[Andyoak]

I'm sure Honda are coming in with the intention of winning to sell cars.