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Honda want two more upgrades

Published on 23 Aug 2016 11:43
3
By: Fergal Walsh

McLaren power unit supplier Honda have said that they are still planning to introduce two more upgrades to their power unit before the season ends.

Honda, who are running with the weakest unit in the field are desperate to put the events of 2015 behind them and want to move on steadily. This season, they have introduced upgrades tactically with the last update coming at Silverstone.

"Sakura is always developing, so as soon as we are ready, we will introduce it," said technical boss Yusuke Hasegawa. "We only have nine races, so even if you have an idea, we only have two chances to introduce it. So we have one chance at Spa and one more after that and the plan is still to use all of the tokens."

Most, if not all teams have switched their focus to the 2017 regulations, but Honda want to get the most out of the 2016 engine before leaving it.

"This is the biggest job for me," Hasegawa admitted, "deciding when to divert resource from this year to next year. So far, I won't give up on this year, but maybe this month, I have to decide.

"After September, the research will stop," he added. "We will have dyno testing in October and November but we will have no research for this year after that."

Hasegawa has also said that he isn't entirely finished when it comes to hunting down Force India and Williams despite being 54 points away.

"I'd like to be the fourth team, Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari and the McLaren-Honda," he said.

"It's difficult to measure the level of performance, but we want to repeat the Hungary situation. If we can achieve that level, we have to be satisfied and maybe with some luck we will get the chance to get a podium"

F1 News McLaren Honda

Replies (3)

calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
No, most teams have not yet switched all of their focus to the next season. Much like McLaren Honda, both Ferrari and Williams still develope their 2016 package alongside the 2017 package, to mention just 2 other teams. Renault is the only team known to have switched most or all of their focus to the next season. Whats so good this season is that most teams are locked in tight battles with other teams. If e.g Williams switch focus too early, Force India could very well swallow them whole, and I doubt Ferrari want to be behind Red Bull.
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- Aug 23 2016 - 14:19
- ringo
  
  Posts: 3,633
  renault have te most potential to improve the engine for the next year currently with the most tokens.
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  Aug 24 2016 - 00:16
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  True, they can do more before the season ends. Though since F1 will reintroduce free development at the closure of this season, tokens will likely not be a big advantage, the other manufacturers will be able to slam anything they want on their units after this season as long as it meets the regulations. I think Honda's package will change the most, since they'll change major parts of their ICE and lax on the size zero concept, but whether it'll change to become one of the stronger I dont know. Either way, I think we can expect some good progress from both Renault and Honda, and thats definitely nice.
  + 0
  
  Aug 24 2016 - 10:54