Oooops. Well, if it ain't the engine that's making the cars slow then it must be..... 'Honda engine 25hp up on Renault' McLaren may still be struggling at the wrong end of the grid, but Honda motorsport chief Yasuhisa Arai says his company's engine output is ahead of that of Renault. The Japanese manufacturer has admitted that their return to F1 has been a lot more difficult than they anticipated and they "failed to meet expectations" as Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button have scored just 17 points between them in the first 11 races. In an attempt to move forward, Honda used more of their in-season development tokens at the Belgian GP last time out and, although they didn't see the results on track following double engine changes for both drivers, the company believes they are now ahead of Renault in terms of horsepower, but about 30hp behind Ferrari. Arai told Autosport: "We haven't caught up to Ferrari yet in terms of the ICE [internal combustion engine]." Renault is currently powering Red Bull and Toro Rosso and the former have already secured two podiums this campaign while STR have scored 35 points. Arai added: "40-50[hp] behind Mercedes but about 25 ahead of Renault. Our engine is a little bit behind Ferrari but much better than the Renault team. Mercedes are still so far away. "But I have confidence that the second half of the season, we will try hard to catch the top two teams. "It may be that it will be difficult to catch the top teams as they have good reliability and good combustion characteristics.
So, this means that the McLaren chassis is the crap of the field. That is a good way to promote ;loyalty between the partners.
The issue is the KERS side, not the engine. Button ran without KERS in the last race and wasn't all that far behind Alonso when you consider that. That's pretty sad.
The ICE is better than renault, but as some have already said, the ERS are not delivering and recovering as potently as the rest of the field.
The only thing that makes me wonder is.... who was the worst with the Merc Engine last year consistently throughout the season. Mac.
So actually, there's a very good chance that the Honda part of that car isn't too bad....interesting, hey?
Honda reliability sucks. But that doesn't explain poor qualifying and poor performance when they do last. I think Honda is trying to do a PR game here. The engine "may" have +25 hp on Renault but it may also have way too much fuel consumption to race in that set up. Who really knows.... but it seems to me like Honda is getting tired of taking all the rap for Mac's rather dismal performance this year.
It really has a lot of horsepower. Too bad most of it winds up in the bottom of the sump, all over the inside of the cowl, and all over the track.
Honda starting to cover there butt . Ron is in way over his head he's in deep water and he can't replace honda because there out any backers for a f1 team . Honda wants to be in the back of a soda can car and that means kicking Ron out so be it soda can man wants someone to give him free engines and free advertising ad space win win . This Deal Is Done I Could Sell This To STUPID Honda People AND Soda Can Man WOULDN'T Love THE Advertising ALL I Want Is 2 Percent Of Total Advertising That Runs On TV AND Print
Unless I'm wrong Honda and Mac are going to be married together for 10 years. Isn't that the length of the agreement? There are two sides to racing. When you race and do reasonably well or meet expectations, it's great for business. I'm sure Mercedes is over the moon with the past few years. When you race and do poorly or under perform expectations, it's bad for business. Honda knows where it is right now.
If honda wants out there deal with Ron they will get out . How about honda says we are pulling out if you don't sell the company to us
I think Ron Dennis has already had that sort of threat from Mercedes in the past, just like Frank Williams had it from BMW. In both cases, the answer was the same: Go **** yourself!"
This Arai guy is some serious dude...i mean he must be the only guy who really knows how much Hp Renault engines are pulling....and he didn't even had to look at the dyno!! he just knew that from hearing the cars!!! These japs are really something amazing!!! On teh other hand, Ron tells everyone that his car is among the fastest ones on corners!!! Well, i just have to look and hear Button and i have a clear picture about the whole packahe...it Sucks, big time...both the engine AND THE CHASSIS..oh, and Ron sucks too, so does Arai, and Alonso.....as i said once, the only decent thing near that team is Jessica!!!
I concur with you and I have been a McLaren follower for some time now. The team is in deep **** right now, and the last thing it needs is to add another layer of PR to what is really a catastrophe this year. It's clumsy, it's ridiculous and it makes them look foolish and unprofessional. Everybody at McLaren and Honda should be under an information embargo. Don't talk to the press, don't say anything, don't speculate, don't brag, don't boast and don't answer to questions. As the Mayor said long time ago, why don't they all shut up?
So... 25 ahead = "much better than" 30 behind = "a little bit behind" I think I'm starting to understand the problem...
