Quote:
Originally Posted by knighty
Well knock me over with a feather ;-).......Ilmor have been helping Honda on the F1 engine for a short while now......Finally Honda realised they needed help from an external consulting company who actually knew what they are doing.....flippin great news......I would love to see McLaren now overtake the Renaults.
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13...claren-dilemma
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Fixed link, not sure why yours is just text and not a hyperlink ...
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13...claren-dilemma
It's been clear for awhile that you are not a Honda fan. But if you have been paying any attention to reports directly from Honda (mostly direct quotes and not speculative reporting via the Japanese press), they have been using outside resources on the 2017 engine from the start. I think the only thing that might be new in that article is speculation/rumors that they "are" working with Ilmor vs. that they "might" or "should" be working with them. Even then... it might not even be true. Ilmor might not be involved.
My amateur opinion is that Honda's problems are less about who they are consulting with, than their testing and project management philosophies. For example... I read that they go straight from engine dyno to chassis integration at the track. They don't have a chassis dyno such as the AVL setup that others have. I have no idea if they plan to change that, or how they plan to work around that deficiency if they don't start using one.
But, there is no doubt this has all been discussed extensively inside McLaren and Honda. Honda claims they are changing their ways. Let's see what plays out in the second half of the season. Personally I think it's unlikely McLaren will move to Renault. I suspect Red Bull (via Toro Rosso) hold all the cards. If they don't want TR to switch to Honda, then that holds up both a path for Honda to have at least one team and the Renault engine supply moving from TR to McLaren (Renault has their own problems and doesn't want to increase the number of teams they supply). If anything, assuming the new spec goes well, I can see Honda at both McLaren and TR. This being RB putting a toe in the waters to test Honda plus play Honda against Renault.
Richard