Quote:
Originally Posted by wnut
Let's look at the economics:
|
Somehow a paper napkin comparison of 2015 vs. 1970's F1 fuel consumption is supposed to be the definitive word on hybrid technology in road cars?
A few things that i suspect are true...
1. A case can be made that "current" hybrid technology in road cars may NOT save you money in the long term.
2. People typically do not buy hybrid road cars purely to save money on gas.
3. Road car hybrids likely has little to do with McLaren/Honda's problems.
4. Current rules makes it hard to guarantee success with 2014+ F1 PSUs.
On topic...
I am both a McLaren and Honda fan, so this entire situation suck. I am doubtful they can make this a successful season. What really puzzles me is that they are so far off. I know that there is no substitute for testing in a real F1 car and that they can't simulate everything in test rigs or mules. But given how hard Renault and Ferrari struggled last year (and that Honda watched that from the sidelines), I would have thought they would have taken this a bit more seriously. I would expect problems, but not what appears to be some type of fundamental problem that they are apparently not able to resolve after a handful of attempts. Mercedes was able to make it work in 2014 so this is not mission impossible.
That is my glass half empty thoughts. My half full thoughts is that they maybe are on the edge of a really good PSU and that they decided to REALLY push the envelope, know it is fragile and that they just now need to make it reliable. But I am having a really hard time selling myself on that version of things.
It will be really interesting to see what if any improvements happen with McLaren/Honda over the next few races.
Richard