Honda could find more F1 power
Honda will evaluate whether it can be more aggressive with its Formula 1 engine in races following Red Bull’s defeat at the hands of Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
Red Bull’s clear pace advantage over one lap allowed Max Verstappen to sweep to pole position in qualifying, only for Mercedes to strike back in the race and secure a narrow victory with Hamilton.
Looking back on the race weekend, Red Bull engine supplier Honda said one aspect it will closely analyse is whether it could have been more aggressive with its power deployment. “We will review and consider this data,” said Honda F1 technical director Toyoharu Tanabe. “We need to see how much the power unit has been exhausted in this race, and we will then use it according to the characteristics of each circuit in the future. We plan to verify whether this usage was optimal. Basically, I think that it can be used without problems, but I plan to think about what I should do to use it properly in the future.
“It was a disappointing result. But Max was able to compete for the win in the first race of the year, and I think it’s a positive thing to see such a performance.”
The display from Red Bull in Bahrain bucked the trend of recent seasons, where the team has started slowly and only been able to match Mercedes for performance later in the year. Although the regulation freeze and benefits offered by the high-rake car concept used by Red Bull have played a part, the updated power unit designed by Honda for its final year in F1 has also provided a step forward in performance.
It has given Tanabe confidence that Red Bull can take the fight to Mercedes on a regular basis. “Last year, we were only able to win when everything went well,” he said. “In terms of the difference with Mercedes, I think this year we are in a better position.”
Tanabe’s belief was shared by the Red Bull-owned teams, with Alphatauri F1 chief Franz Tost feeling it would be possible to go head to head with the Mercedes-powered cars. “I must say Honda did a fantastic job in Sakura, because this new power unit is much more powerful and better driveable than it was in the past,” said Tost, whose driver Pierre Gasly qualified fifth in Bahrain. “I think that Honda is really very, very close to Mercedes. And I can only say thank you to the Japanese engineers, because they did a fantastic job.”
The super-compact design of the Honda power unit has also offered Red Bull aerodynamic gains, according to Tanabe: “The camshaft position has been lowered, and we have lowered the engine height. It is a compact package. As a result, when the engine is installed in the chassis, the degree of freedom of the airflow flowing inside the car is increased.”
But the power-unit news wasn’t all good for Red Bull
in Bahrain. A problem for Sergio Perez on the formation lap almost prevented him from starting the race, but the Mexican managed to reset his car. Red Bull was also forced to change the control electronics and energy store on Perez’s power unit before the race.
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko stressed to
Autosport that he did not have any reliability concerns over Honda’s power unit, saying the issues were “primarily software related” and were not a sign of wider problems that could hamper its season. “Perez had a battery changed at the very last moment,” said Marko. “That was probably the reason why he was suddenly without power. It was sensationally done by him, putting steering wheel down, all emergency scenarios carried out as if nothing was wrong. Suddenly the power was back. But there’s nothing in the hardware. These are all things that can be done with the appropriate adaptations.”
Marko heaped praise on Verstappen’s Bahrain display despite his late defeat, pondering after the track-limits controversy why the stewards “don’t put a wall” at the exit of Turn 4. He also felt the differential issue that blighted Verstappen in the early part of the race was worth around 0.3 seconds per lap, leaving Red Bull “clearly handicapped” in the fight against Hamilton.
Regardless, the display gave Marko hope that come next week’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola,
Red Bull can scrap with Mercedes once again. “With the package we have – a very competitive engine, a chassis that reacts well to everything – we will be back on par with Mercedes,” he said. “We know now you can only succeed against Mercedes if you act flawlessly. Everything has to be right. We assume that it will be a similar situation, hopefully with a reversed podium and Max on top.”