Badger wrote: ↑11 Apr 2026, 10:03
GhostF1 wrote: ↑11 Apr 2026, 05:14
zoroastar wrote: ↑11 Apr 2026, 03:32
dude, honda themselves were saying they were having problems getting the weight down, and creating enough power since before the season started. do you actually find the new reports hard to believe at this point?
The actual figures I don't take as accurate but they are definitely down on power. They literally went into this season with two years less development time while also admitting the new regs have rendered their combustion and regen techniques that gave them big results on the last PU redundant and they have to figure out new avenues to regain the power lost. They said this as the season was about to begin.
I am not surprised they are down on power. They need time, but Honda always find their way,
their development speed even when behind has always been incredible. The only thing that will slow it down is this power unit manufacturer cost cap (ridiculous) brought in for 2026, so they can't spend or dyno test as much as they used to. Hopefully ADUO is enough.
It took 6 years to improve their engine to a competitive level after 2015. Not sure what is "incredible" about that.
The time to catch up will be determined by how much potential is left for the top manufacturers to exploit. If there is a siginficant amount of performance left for the others to find I don't think Honda will catch up at all during this engine regulation (which looks to be short-lived). But if they are already near the ceiling of what is possible Honda may be able to get to a decent level in the next couple of years.
Lol seriously? You think going from by far the worst PU, starting considerably later than others, with zero facilities or infrastructure, to arguably the best PU of the field, all while the others are developing at the same time is not impressive? You somehow think that isn't a clear demonstration of incredible development speed and potential? Wild take.
This isn't exactly starting from ground zero with the engine as it was 2015. I can't see it taking the same timeframe. Yes, the situation is worse than expected at the start, the car itself is all new, as are facilities and design methods, personnel and also the beginnings of a relationship between two international partners. Let's see how the team handle progression and development in the first half of the season before we start chanting "death to Honda" or "bad management decision choosing Honda" lol...