TNTHead wrote: ↑04 Aug 2020, 22:25
hkbruin wrote: ↑04 Aug 2020, 20:09
I think Honda needs to go out on a limb and throw every innovation they can possibly think of against the wall, and see what sticks and what doesn't. In the past Honda has been conservative and have approached the F1 rule makers to ask them what is allowed, what is grey, etc. They should just implement (perhaps under the guise of being lost in translation) whatever they "perceive" as legal and let the FIA deal with the aftermath. Isn't that the case with Mercedes oil burning and Ferrari's fuel flow sensor? The ramifications take at least a year and no one is penalized for past indiscretions. Ferrari gets away with a covert settlement and got a handful of podium finishes and a couple wins throughout the 2nd half season that ultimately affected Red Bull.
Does anyone know what came out of that meeting in the UK among the Honda brass and RBR? I want to hear that they are going to be balls to the wall.
Exactly, I think physically the ICE will be more less the same for the three manufacturers. May be some relevant differences at MGU-H and - K. As a rough estimate the PU's are principally converged. That makes the grey area the (big) differentiator.
If Merc gets their grey area solution approved and Honda not, as Etusch implies, that could mean that politics and power is determining the outcome. It is probably part of the F1 game.
It would then be better to not ask and just implement the solution, if they can get away with it. Still it leaves a bit of a sour taste because the one who plays by the rule is getting punished which is the other way around of course.
It's worth discussing the differences in ICE, there must be some notable ones, the Honda operates so unusually in comparison to the others and they seem confident their ICE is right up there and they believe Merc's engine advantage is limited to ERS systems. There is so much skip fire use and since Singapore 2019 with Spec 4 and the new fuel, this new behaviour that appears in certain modes that sounds like anti-lag back fire/crackle (Wazari named this as "secondary controlled combustion") hard to imagine the 4 manufacturers are level pegging in ICE efficiency/power.
I think we've seen enough to say during the race the Honda looks top tier, across both teams their speed at power sensitive sectors is either top of the chart or mixing it with the Mercs. Horner believes the chassis issue they are working to solve is costing them about 0.4-0.5 of a second per lap at Silverstone and over the race distance there, that's about a 20 second loss, Max was only 10-11 behind Lewis before the final pit, so even with conservative estimations, it's not unreasonable to suggest they'd be challenging for the win on merit if the car was behaving.