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Honda 50% satisfied with engine progress

Published on 15 Oct 2016 13:24
5
By: Fergal Walsh

Honda boss Yusuke Hasegawa has said that he is 50% satisfied with the Honda engine now that development on the 2016 spec has ended.

Honda re-joined the sport last year as power unit suppliers to McLaren but endured a torrid time becoming backmarkers in 2015.

In 2016 it is clear that the team ahs made progress but Hasegawa admits that he only thinks they are halfway to full potential.

“Yes, our development for 2016 is complete, but of course we will continue to fine-tune the power units at every track,” Hasegawa said.

“My satisfaction level is at 50%, and I am split because though we have made lots of progress this year, we are not yet at the level of the top level teams.

“What we have done this year will of course help next year, but at the moment, we are completely focused on the early part of 2017. What will happen within next year comes after that.”

F1 travels to Austin next weekend and Hasegawa is hoping that McLaren have a better weekend than Suzuka, in which both McLaren's struggled all weekend.

He also believes that the car will be much more suited to the track than Suzuka.

“We think that Austin should be a better track for us than Suzuka, but it is difficult to predict at this point,” he concluded.

calle.itw

Posts: 8,527

Isnt Austin a pretty unfavourable track for them though? Last year played into their favour because it was raining, but its not as certain they'll have the same luck this time.

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Oct 15 2016 - 17:56

F1 News McLaren Honda

Replies (5)

calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
Isnt Austin a pretty unfavourable track for them though? Last year played into their favour because it was raining, but its not as certain they'll have the same luck this time.
- + 1
- Oct 15 2016 - 17:56
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  Yeah, and even at Spa. It could be how the car manages tyres, apparently the drivers has complained about that before, and Suzuka is tyre intense, but still.
  
  4th sounds about right, maybe even 5th, hard to measure where Force India and Toro Rosso really are, but I think they are 4th on the chassis side of things.
  
  I agree, its a bit concerning how little progress we see/notice on the chassis side of things. We saw a decent leap in PU quality between 2015 and 16, and might see another decent leap in 17 *knocks on wood* now that Honda apparently intend to use a bigger turbo, but they'll need a similar leap in terms of chassis quality. I think Honda was helped by replacing Arai with Hasegawa, the new boss seems alot more down to earth.
  + 1
  
  Oct 17 2016 - 21:58
Kevin

Posts: 5,332
McLaren said Suzuka would suit their car more than Singapore. Now they say, Suzuka is too much of a power track for the MP4-31, but they think Austin should favour their car. Is this Ronspeak for "We don't understand our car"?
- + 0
- Oct 16 2016 - 15:25
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  It sure sounds like it. To be honest, I think its very odd how they performed so badly at Suzuka, because their car should in theory work decently there, apart from the straight and maybe the dunlop corner. In any case, Singapore was a better fit for their car than Suzuka.
  + 1
  
  Oct 17 2016 - 14:53
- Kevin
  
  Posts: 5,332
  I was also surprised with their form at Suzuka. I hadn't seen it coming, after great peformances at Singapore and Malaysia. The only conclusion I can take is that both chassis and engine are mediocre. The chassis is ranked 4th (at best) and the engine is only better than the Ferrari of 2015, which is already a remarkable performance of Honda to be honest.
  
  I see Honda improving, but McLaren not so much.
  + 1
  
  Oct 17 2016 - 17:54