Vettel expects ‘very brave’ Honda to succeed

[vcs316]

Sebastian Vettel says Honda has been “very brave” in entering F1 a year after new regulations were introduced but expects the engine manufacturer to succeed.

Honda is only supplying McLaren with its new power unit in 2015, and a number of problems disrupted its pre-season testing schedule before the car ran comfortably off the pace in Australia. With Kevin Magnussen failing to even start the race after an engine problem - and Daniil Kvyat also stopping on the way to the grid - Vettel says the reliability issues are not good for the sport but also highlight what a good job teams are doing to run consistently with the current technology.

”Obviously it was strange to see people struggling to do the laps to the grid but I think it’s difficult,” Vettel said. “I think it shows how complex it really is, how difficult it is to master the challenge of making the car reliable for a grand prix and for the entire season so that’s why you really have to say chapeau to [Mercedes] and everyone who is able to extract clean races.

“But also it’s great to see that this year we have a new competitor in the game with Honda. I think they have been very brave to face that challenge, even though now the price they’re paying is very high, but I’m sure they will come back.

“I think everyone has, more or less, been through that process with the exception of [Mercedes] last year, so it seems to be part of the game but for sure it’s not great for the people. They want to see the cars and if the cars break before even starting the race that’s not right but what can I say? It’s a difficult challenge, it is complicated, maybe got a bit too complicated but for now it is what it is.”

http://en.f1i.com/news/7524-vettel-expects-very-brave-honda-to-succeed.html?

[IulianFerrari]

Mclaren Honda will struggle the whole year in my opinion. I was sure this will happen. The signs where there, 1st of all Mclaren were ****** with the best power unit on the grid last year, it is unforgivable that Williams beats you so clearly with the same PU, it means you are very weak at everything else. 2nd Honda didn't have any experience with the PU, it was clear they would never challenge Mercedes for example who's done a great job last year and improved clearly this year. The car was always going to be rubbish with that combination a weak aero team and a new PU on the grid. Maybe Honda will do a better job with the PU when they will understand more but this Mclaren will struggle big time. I think Honda would be the most hopefull for a new set of rules which would mean more or less a clean new start, but the Mclaren aero sucks so bad I think they would need a rocket to win a race.
PS : Fernando you sure know how to pick them :D


**No swearing. You have been here long enough to know the rules.**

[Tony]

I honestly don't think Honda will be able to mount a reasonable challenge given where they are now, not just this year, but until the next cycle of rules (unless they reopen the engine formula next year)... and that is, quite frankly, not good for the sport... I suspect that unless some changes are made, Honda may not want to stick around 5 years flailing at the back...

[AfterLife]

I guess Honda have serious works to do. In my opinion if they could sort out their reliability and heating issues by the end of 2015 season, it will be like a win for them.

[Dino]

How bad is it?
The McLaren-Honda was the slowest car in Australia by a massive margin.

Button and team-mate Kevin Magnussen were 1.5 seconds away from getting out of the first knockout stage of qualifying.

On paper, they were 2.9secs slower than Mercedes in that session. But given the world champions were on the slower tyre, a further second can be added to that gap.

That's without considering the extra power Mercedes would gain from turning up their engine progressively for the next two parts of qualifying.

Three seconds off the pace each lap is bad enough, but five is close to catastrophic. And it raises the very real question of whether McLaren-Honda can ever close that gap.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/31942251

[Stormsearcher]

I beg to differ. They are not running the engine above 60% power. They have issues, yes and it will prbly take them the best part of the season to sort out, but once done (and if rumours are to be believed) the Honda PU is just as good as the merc. So i would expect they will start mounting a challenge to us and RBR by the last part of the season. When fully sorted, Merc can expect them to be right behind.
But u never know, by then they may have changed the rules and made it a 4 cyl 1000 cc turbo engine. :thumb

[GamD]

I beg to differ. They are not running the engine above 60% power. They have issues, yes and it will prbly take them the best part of the season to sort out, but once done (and if rumours are to be believed) the Honda PU is just as good as the merc. So i would expect they will start mounting a challenge to us and RBR by the last part of the season. When fully sorted, Merc can expect them to be right behind.
But u never know, by then they may have changed the rules and made it a 4 cyl 1000 cc turbo engine. :thumb

If the Rumours are true, Merc has a even better engine on the way...

Honda has nothing but a power unit of 60% running strength. Honda has the tech and knowledge to get the engines up to "speed", but will the time be put in? and when their engine is the same as a Mercs will McLaren have the chassis to gain the advantage?
There is a lot of ifs with Honda, best to do is wait and see.

[Nero Horse]

I honestly don't think Honda will be able to mount a reasonable challenge given where they are now, not just this year, but until the next cycle of rules (unless they reopen the engine formula next year)... and that is, quite frankly, not good for the sport... I suspect that unless some changes are made, Honda may not want to stick around 5 years flailing at the back...

If next year they aren't winning then I think they will probably pack it up and leave F1 again with tails between their legs. Big engine manufacturers usually have no patience to stick around for years without quickly getting any success.


I beg to differ. They are not running the engine above 60% power. They have issues, yes and it will prbly take them the best part of the season to sort out, but once done (and if rumours are to be believed) the Honda PU is just as good as the merc. So i would expect they will start mounting a challenge to us and RBR by the last part of the season. When fully sorted, Merc can expect them to be right behind.
But u never know, by then they may have changed the rules and made it a 4 cyl 1000 cc turbo engine. :thumb

But everybody improves in F1, so even if Honda gets everything sorted then by that time Ferrari, Renault and Merc might just as likely have moved even further ahead. There are absolutely no guarantees that when/if Honda manages to get things sorted then they will automatically be challenging for the wins. At the moment Honda is being hyped up only because of the success they had with Macca back in the 80's and early 90's but nobody seems to remember their failures with BAR and then also as the factory team.

[Liscia]

Honda were dismal on their own and at BAR which is why I wondered why FA wanted to join a team that had left a bad
taste in his mouth with an all new untried Honda power unit. Their only hope was that they'd be as strong or stronger
than most of the field, if not Mercedes out of the box since they had the time to learn from others mistakes/problems the
whole of last season-didn't happen and they will now be in a perpetual catch-up mode for the foreseeable future. McLaren
chassis doesn't look very promising either and last year with the series' best power unit they badly embarrassed themselves.
WHAT WERE THEY THINKING IN WOKING, CLOUD CUCKOO LAND?

[Hornet]

I believe Honda went for a performance-focused approach, and they will have to iron out the reliability issues later on. Due to development restriction, it's probably easier this way. Manufactures are allowed to make reliability upgrades that doesn't result in performance improvements. Of course that doesn't mean they will be competitive within a year, it takes time.

At the end of the day, the sport will have to find a way to roughly equalize all PU before the full freeze takes effect. So neither Honda or Renault will stay in bad shape forever.

And Honda certainly did not join the sport for quick success. It's an investment, and the return of investment would be their experience in high performance hybrid PU. Of course you can do that in WEC, but in F1 you're pushing the boundaries further with a larger budget, and anything they learn will probably be more advance. Ever major car manufacturer needs to be able to build a good hybrid PU as as the industry is constantly moving towards efficiency. Honda probably sees an involvement in F1 to be an advantage over their competitors.

[From Treviso]

With hindsight, Honda should have waited one more year and just developed its engine systems on a test mule race car (like Ferrari). I guess the clincher was signing up with McLaren, which is a disaster for both sides.

I just want to say that I have had enough of people talking down all engine suppliers that cannot match Mercedes - all these engines are at the pinnacle of technology with never tried before systems. People keep bagging Renault, yet they would have won the WDC last year if Mercedes team weren't there. So they're having a poor start to the year - again that does make their engines cr@p - they are all excellent engines; just that one is best at the moment.

[Brembo]

All winter long up untill 1st race Ferrari team, and most fans alike were resolved to going from 2014 to 2016 leaving this season to development etc. No chance for success. Not so !! We came in 3rd ! Honda using 2015 to get things right seems to be a normal way of getting ready and at the same time giving their drivers the opportunity to actually race. Who knows, maybe they will get some points this year.

[fmatiasii]

The changing of rules every year really makes it hard for engine manufacturers to improve and extract it's full potential, more so with Honda.

[abbottcostello]

The changing of rules every year really makes it hard for engine manufacturers to improve and extract it's full potential, more so with Honda.
But, the problem is the rules are NOT changing every year. This set of rules will persist until the end of the 2020 season.

[fmatiasii]

I stand corrected then.