Joe Saward is reporting that there are rumours that McLaren appear to be very interested in reviving their partnership with the Japanese company for the new engine rules in 2014. I have no knowledge of how the Honda v8 compared to the Merc, Ferrari, Renault and Cosworth engines and thus, no idea as to whether this is a good thing for McLaren or not. Perhaps one of our more learned posters could enlighten me?
Goes against the general thought that McLaren were going to build their own engines when the Merc partnership ends.
Indeed. However, as Joe says in his article though, Mclaren can't really afford to do them 'in house' without being able to sell a lot more road cars.
It does make good sense, but when did sense prevail in F1!? If Honda did come back then i'd imagine it would be engines only. It seems most manufacturers have seen that to do everything is too much work.
Tying up a deal with Honda would be a very astute move by McLaren, in my opinion. The V6 engine will be completely new and would only come about as a result of a mutual exchange of information for its design. Essentially, the engine would be a McLaren Honda (or Honda McLaren if you prefer), although I am sure it would need to bear the Honda name alone, in order for them to feel their investment properly worthwhile. Honda's technology and vast experience with designing compact, high performance, turbo engines would be invaluable. It would also give them an important place in the marketing of their 'green' ideology (sic). And it's worth remembering that Honda's last V6 engine for F1 was a rather good one… For the sake of competition and therefore the long-term health of F1; I sincerely hope the deal comes about.
They may as well dust off the old V6 turbo's and fettle them to meet the regs! They were truly amazing engines. Power, reliability and excellent fuel consumption. I preferred the BMW's though. Their fires were far more spectacular
Yes. On both counts! Yes, I agree Jacky. Nissan in F1 would be a great thing for the sport and I feel that they would do a better job than Toyota (who are also pretty handy with V6s). On the subject of engines, Nissan have also produced what I believe to be the best straight-six ever seen in a race car or road car (and yes, I include the wonderful but now out-dated Aston Martin straight-sixes of the 60s (last seen in the early 70s in the first DBS). The Nissan engine I speak of resides under the bonnet of what has become the favourite road-car in my garage; and was deliberately and hugely 'over-engineered' to cope with the rigours of Le Mans 24 heurs.
Clearly this is more evidence of Hamilton's desperation to be the next Senna. He's already copied the helmet colour and now he's copying his engine. It's so sad to see Uncle Ron giving into these petty demands. Next they'll start using a red and white livery. I'm joking! In all seriousness I wouldn't mind seeing a new engine supplier.
*chuckles* Interesting stuff... I certainly wouldn't have any objections to having a McLaren Honda on the grid again, though the idea of a truly independent McLaren is quite exciting too. I do feel that if Button or Hamilton want to take another championship or two under McLaren, then they need to get there skates on. Any transition period could be quite troublesome either with a Honda or McLaren power unit.
I think you have a good point here. Vettel is beginning to show signs of running away with everything during this era! (Or is at least threatening to).
I'd really love to see McLaren manufacturing their own power units and being a truly independent F1 team like Ferrari... They should have stumped up the cash and bought Ilmor rather than letting Merc buy them up (if that were even ever a possibility). As for Vettel... he could be in a position to clean up for years, but who knows. We thought Alonso may be capable of dominating after '06 but the cards just haven't fallen that way, so who knows who may be on top before the reg changes. I'd like some more seasons like '10 personally.
I said at the time that 2010 would be looked back on by future generations as an absolute classic. It is good that we were here to witness it all, and we would do well to remember this new 'Golden Age' as it unfolds…
The best thing possible would be the 2011 races with the 2010 championship! What a season it would be.
McLaren-Honda, technologically probably the best mix one could think of as long as Honda don't get stuck in the huge corporate management structure problem that destroyed Toyota, Honda would need a well funded small autonomous team that could integrate with McLaren then maybe it would work. Honda for sure know how to build an engine, even for F1, been there done that, could lead on to some more wonderful road car high revving powerplants. How about a 1.8 V6 15000rpm turbo 250hp
If they can only get 250bhp out of a 1.8 turbo spinning at 15000rpm they'd better stay out of the sport! Even the Americans could achieve that!
Well St Chris- tell me some US cars with 250bhp out of a 1.8 turbo spinning at 15000rpm? I'm not being funny - I just do not know!!
No road car goes up to 15,000 rpm yet, but a Seat Leon Curpa R already gets 225bhp from a 1.8 4 cyl turbo and that was a good few years ago.............. Mitsubishi also squeeze 400bhp out of a 2l turbo. 250 bhp from a 1.8 V6? I reckon with a box of spanners and a couple of days I can get that
