Quote:
Originally Posted by Casper
In other words they did not gain anything. Are you serious when you assert that Honda had opportunity to gain from McLaren's use of the MB motor? I doubt that Honda would have even seen one in the metal last year.
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I would be dumbfounded if they didn't, and Mercedes are not stupid; they would have been well aware of the possibility, and would have attempted to "hide" as much of the technology and philosophy behind the PSU from "spying" eyes. This is the reason that McLaren had to agree to running the older versions during the year.
Don't forget, McLaren would have had engineers from Honda in situ at Woking last year to prepare from this year's assault on the Championship, and it may well be that the "eyes" that Honda put in place to monitor the Mercedes' units could have been engineers from any country in the world, not even from Japan.
Why do you think that the teams erect screens around their garages? I can assure you that it is not to stop the paparazzi getting pictures for tomorrow's newspapers (although there may be an element of that) but to stop rival teams from spying. Teams will sometimes go to extra-ordinary extremes to find out what makes the opposition's car go well, and that is why they try to stop the cars being photographed from viewing places above as well as opposite the pits/garages.