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Honda's Yusuke Hasegawa has confirmed that this year's 2017 engine will continue to undergo development this season, and that the development of the power unit will become a five or six stage plan as opposed to the original four stage plan that was originally scheduled.
"We will prepare another two steps, but it could be three," Hasegawa told Racer. "Either way, we will keep going. There are also things to think about like tactics of how to manage some steps up and the introduction of new specifications. Of course we also need to avoid penalties as well, especially at certain tracks like Singapore."
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Hasegawa was also confident that this year's Honda engine had progressed more than any other on the gird, although he was unsure if it would be able to contend with Mercedes, Ferrari, or Renault power by the end of 2017: "We are closing up the gap," he said, "but it is natural because we are the followers, so we should be."
It is without doubt that this extended development plan will be part of a bid for McLaren to retain Fernando Alonso for 2018 after the double champion expressed his disillusion at the team due to its lack of competitiveness and pace. Alonso set the deadline for his future at McLaren to be decided by Belgian Grand Prix - the next race on the calendar after F1's summer break.
In the event of Honda's "Spec 4" update being a let down, many F1 fans should be prepared for Alonso to jump ship at McLaren for 2018, where the Spaniard may sign for Renault or leave the series all together to race in IndyCar in North America.
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Replies (5)
Login to replyBarron
Posts: 625
Yes please, the Honda so needs this and so does F1. The only engine supplier not to run a car and we need more like them to offset the dominance of the car brand racers. Imagine if the entire grid were "customer engines", that would be much more of a level playing field. Ferrari are the only exception as I cannot imagine F1 without Ferrari...
reg
Posts: 162
It can only be the Dollars that are keeping Fernando in the Mclaren.
Honda have really let everyone down very badly.
However, Honda have rarely managed to produce an F! engine that's really on the pace.
In the V12 era, their motors had lots of power at maximum revs, but no torque and no low down power, comes from building bike racing engines, that don't have to lug a car around!
Yamaha had the same problem if your memories go back that far.
Barron
Posts: 625
Yes indeed and that's an interesting take on the situation..
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I wouldnt say that. Their engines pretty much dominated the V8 turbo era. They also managed to make a pretty decent V10, with one of them still having the spot as the second most powerful, only behind that mad BMW engine.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I think this is the correct way to go. Not only does it show Honda's commitment, if they improve enough, they might convince McLaren to stay, and maybe even attract a new customer. And the more they do in this season, the more resources they will have to focus on other components in the winter. This will be the basis of the 2018 spec. Build as much as possible on it now, to reap the benefits next year.