I missed the last 5 laps … what did Alonso do ?
I missed the last 5 laps … what did Alonso do ?
Damn aero.
I have to admit, the drivers over at McLaren have been very patient given the circumstances they are in. Pretty sure at least once or twice I'd have gotten out of the car and thrown my helmet at something. On that note in comparison, the jerkoffs in charge of Red Bull have been the example of how not to act. Bashing your engine supplier after winning 4 world championships with them is not smart. Threatening to quit F1 is also extremely childish. Two teams, two very different responses. All that's wrong with Renault is they're down a bit on power. At least they're finishing races. Hopefully, McHonda can get their stuff straightened out once the season is over and be competitive in 2016. Looking forward to the stories that will eventually be told on what is wrong with their engine package this year.
I am not sure Honda is ALLOWED to make enough changes for them to be reliable and competitive.
The Mclarens looked decent at COTA and both cars finished in the top 10 before the penalty. It appeared they were making progress. One step forward, two steps back.
wvumtnbkr wrote: I am not sure Honda is ALLOWED to make enough changes for them to be reliable and competitive.
They are. There are enough tokens to pretty much redesign the entire engine at this point. It's in a few years that they'll be constrained. Plus I believe reliability changes are free.
in past yrs, Honda would have already scrapped this engine (PU in modern day F1 speak) and come up with something different … rules DON'T allow that regardless of how many "tokens" they have
if Honda doesn't fix this for next yr, I'm betting we see the last of them pretty quickly … last time when things didn't get better quickly, out they went
Regardless of tokens, it's got to be a turbo V6 with very constrained dimensions. But, as all the engine manufacturers have acknowledged, there's a lot of freedom with the "tokens" right now. Don't know why that's in quotes, as it's a legitimate thing in the rules. And there were concerns that Honda had an advantage due to waiting a year before introducing their power unit, so they're not really in a position to complain about rules!
wbjones wrote: in past yrs, Honda would have already scrapped this engine (PU in modern day F1 speak) and come up with something different … rules DON'T allow that regardless of how many "tokens" they have if Honda doesn't fix this for next yr, I'm betting we see the last of them pretty quickly … last time when things didn't get better quickly, out they went
It's not the tokens that's holding them back. The basic internal combustion engine is fine. It's the energy recovery part that's not working well. There was an article in Motorsport magazine a few months ago. While McLaren, Ron Dennis etc are, unlike Red Bull, Christian Horner and co, are playing nice in public. Apparently behind the scenes they are pissed as Honda really have no sense of urgency compared to normal F1 standards of throw unlimited money, people and man hours at the situation, they want to do it by their book.
Also check your history. Honda didn't come into F1 in the 80's and dominant off the bat. They spent several years developing the basic V6 architecture in F2 using a 2.0l na version. It took several years to get that right, but eventually became so dominant that it helped kill F2 and they moved to F3000 rules using detuned DFVs and other 3.0l engines, but Honda were now in F1.
Also when Honda went to CART and Indy in 94 they were so slow to react to basic issues Bobby Rahal had to lease a year old Penske chassis and an Ilmor engine for the Indy 500.
So I'd say Honda are reacting as normal right now.
File this under fairly meaningless. http://www.racer.com/f1/item/124167-mclaren-tops-final-test-day-of-2015 Might be good for team morale, but the season is over and the car is outdated.
ncjay wrote: File this under fairly meaningless. http://www.racer.com/f1/item/124167-mclaren-tops-final-test-day-of-2015 Might be good for team morale, but the season is over and the car is outdated.
On light fuel and super soft tires Alonso was able to set 3rd fastest lap of the race in the closing stages of Abu Dhabi. Honda just can't get the ERS sorted to give them good power consistently
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