Breaking news
Formula 1
Performance gains not Honda's first priority in 2018
Honda will focus on reliability over performance with its first race specification engine for the 2018 Formula 1 season, Motorsport.com has learned.
Lawrence Barretto
Edited: Feb 26, 2018, 2:07 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The Japanese manufacturer has embarked on a new three-year partnership with Toro Rosso after three disastrous seasons with McLaren.
Over the winter, it overhauled its management structure, moving Yusuke Hasegawa off the F1 project and splitting his role between Toyoharu Tanabe and Yasuaski Asaki.
Its focus has been on improving the reliability, after it had suffered several failures last year.
Honda is hopeful its testing spec engine running at the Barcelona test can provide some improvements ahead of the opener in Australia.
Providing the first specification of the engine delivers as hoped and research and development progresses positively, it hopes to add performance upgrades later in the season.
This year, teams will be limited to just three engines without penalty, meaning they have to last seven races. That means the first major development is likely to be introduced at race eight in France if they stay on schedule.
"Our approach this year is to be first focused on reliability at the beginning of the season," Honda's motorsport chief Masashi Yamamoto told Motorsport.com at Barcelona.
"We have to make sure we have good reliability. That is what we have been working on during the winter season - let's see what happens during winter testing.
"We are still fourth in the pecking order, this year will be the first to ensure the reliability. We will bring some performance improvements during the year.
"First we want to focus on tests one and two. In terms of overall performance, we cannot comment clearly on this as it is only the testing spec for us.
"With performance, there is a bit more to come, and so far we're happy about the reliability but there is still a lot of testing to come."
It is believed Honda's off-season has run smoother at its Sakura and Milton Keynes bases, with potential issues that could have impacted testing found in good time before Barcelona.
Toro Rosso Honda had a successful opening morning at Barcelona, with Brendon Hartley clocking 72 laps. Only Renault's Nico Hulkenberg (73) managed more.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Alonso's 10-lap morning "no big deal", McLaren insists
Next article Halo created "huge" added expense for Force India
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Lawrence Barretto
Sirotkin, Stroll to have two race engineers each
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sirotkin, Stroll to have two race engineers each
Hamilton "sacrifice" saved Mercedes an hour of testing
Formula 1
Formula 1
Hamilton "sacrifice" saved Mercedes an hour of testing
Kubica regrets being "too honest" about driving limitations
Formula 1
Formula 1
Kubica regrets being "too honest" about driving limitations
More from
Racing Bulls
Who slept worst last night: Nikola Tsolov
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Who slept worst last night: Nikola Tsolov
Racing Bulls "not in a rush" to decide between three "fantastic" drivers for F1 2027
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Racing Bulls "not in a rush" to decide between three "fantastic" drivers for F1 2027
Latest news
Franco Morbidelli on securing most coveted WSBK ride: 'Clearly Ducati has some trust in me'
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Japanese GP
9 min
Franco Morbidelli on securing most coveted WSBK ride: 'Clearly Ducati has some trust in me'
"Not allowed, not made possible": Was BMW denied its title chance?
DTM
DTM DTM
Hockenheim
58 min
"Not allowed, not made possible": Was BMW denied its title chance?
Max Verstappen: FAQ on his GTWC Europe debut
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 1 h
Max Verstappen: FAQ on his GTWC Europe debut
Pedro Acosta: "I'm going to Ducati to learn from Marc Marquez, not to beat him on same bike"
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Indonesian GP
2 h
Pedro Acosta: "I'm going to Ducati to learn from Marc Marquez, not to beat him on same bike"
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe