Honda motorsport boss Yasuhisa Arai has claimed that it is unfair the engine maker is receiving all criticism and has rebuked doubts that the Japanese firm could make enough of a step forward over the next winter to become competitive.
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Seems pretty quiet lately. It must be the summer break. I remember when back at Honda, this time of year was absolutely hectic for us. There were more meetings and 14 hour days, 6 days a week then when the racing was going on. I just talked to my nephew and he said he has spent 8 of the last 14 days sleeping at the facilities at Sakura and not going home. Luckily he is single. It brings back so many memories. All I know is that he is working on the combustion chamber design with special emphasis on the exhaust volume and flow into the turbo. That's all he'll say except that there is a major change upcoming on the port and chamber design.
I am very anxious to see what the second part of the season brings for (Maku-Hon), the Japanese nickname for McLaren Honda. I am curious to see how much progress they make in relationship to the other teams. We all know the others are also frantically at work to make their cars better. If Merc, Red Bull, Ferrari, etc each take a step forward, MH must take two steps forward just to close the gap. I think they will do this but only time will tell. It looks like MH is trying to land a major Japanese appliance/electronics company as a sponsor.
“If Honda does not race, there is no Honda.”
“Success represents the 1% of your work which results from the 99% that is called failure.”
Honda is aiming to match Ferrari's power output with the updated Formula 1 engine it will introduce for the forthcoming Belgian Grand Prix.
The Japanese manufacturer has suffered a trying season since returning to F1 as works partner to McLaren this year, and has lagged behind rivals Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault with its first effort at exploiting the new V6 hybrid turbo regulations.
For Spa, the power unit in the back of the McLaren-Honda MP4-30 will include a revised internal combustion engine, featuring changes to the combustion chamber, intake, exhaust layout and gear-train system, according to Honda motorsport chief Yasuhisa Arai.
Arai told AUTOSPORT his company's existing engine was "much better than Renault" during the most recent race in Hungary, and that the upgraded version will take it closer to Ferrari's output.
The aim is then to match the class-leading Mercedes unit with a further upgrade over the winter, ready for the 2016 season.
"Spa is the final upgrade for this year, with ancillaries to follow in the following race," Arai told AUTOSPORT.
"Mk 3 [will be introduced] in Spa [and] we have already started development on next season's power unit.
"Mk 4 will be on the same level as Mercedes, that is the target; Mk 3 will be on a level similar to Ferrari, which is what we're aiming for. It's a big step."
CHASSIS HIDING GAINS
Alonso, McLaren, Hungary
Arai suggested the limitations of the MP4-30, which McLaren has updated continuously over the course of the season, masked Honda's engine performance in Hungary, where Arai said the unit was running at full power.
"[The car has] not so good mechanical grip, or aero, compared with Red Bull there is still a big gap," Arai added.
"We have checked the GPS data; the chassis and aero package needs time and fine-tuning, such as wing angle, ride heights, suspension settings.
"[Engine] unreliability has meant lots of parts were changed in winter testing and so things like flow-vis and taking data has been done during the season in FP1, due to the unreliability in the winter."
REASON FOR OPTIMISM
McLaren-Honda has suffered a large number of failures of various engine components this year, with Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button having both used six engines already in 2015.
However Arai reckons events at the Hungaroring give the alliance reason for genuine optimism, not because Alonso finished a season's best fifth but that neither the Spaniard nor team-mate Button suffered a single engine component failure.
"From the start of the season we knew there was a cooling problem, so we turned the engine power down a lot," Arai told AUTOSPORT.
"We upgraded the power unit in Spain to 'Spec 2' and we have almost perfected the heat rejection.
"Due to the compact package, you have the very skinny [bodywork] and everything on the inside had many issues regarding heat rejection, which causes a lot of damage for the MGU-H, the MGU-K.
"Finally, in Hungary, we have no problems and we have a good package."
Last edited by max_speed on 17 Aug 2015, 12:05, edited 1 time in total.
Didn't we learn by now that everything Arai says has to be taken with more than just a Pinch of Salt? I mean if course it is possible the Spa PU is great but Honda had so much Problems this year one would have thought they would cut such bold claims by now.
Anyways, i remain cautios but slightly optimistic. That Interview changed nothing for me.
Strange as I heard the chassis and areo updates available to Mac's was capable of an additional 1-2 secs per lap with the 'right' engine power so for him to say it's behind the curve is strange
Is that Honda knocking themselves on the chest and blaming McLaren for the first time? If the engine is better than Renault then MCL-Honda should be better than Red Bull and Torro Rosso?
=D> 
