Honda has admitted that they are taking a “very high risk” with their 2017 engine due to it being completely different to the norm.
The engine manufacturer has struggled to equal the performance and reliability achieved by their rivals, notably Scuderia Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz. So with their desire to improve, coupled with the scrapping of the token development system, they have completely redesigned the power unit. It will feature a change in layout and new architecture, the result of all they’ve learnt over the past two years.
“The concept is completely different,” Yusuke Hasegawa, chief of Honda, told Autosport.
“It’s very high-risk, we don’t know a lot of things about that new concept.
“We know it will give us a performance advantage but the biggest risk is whether we can realise that potential this year.”
The internal combustion engine is Honda’s main area of focus, but other components are also receiving being revamped as fiddling with one part means tweaking with another.
“We need to concentrate on the ICE for this year,” he said. “If we improve the engine itself, which means boosting exhaust gas energy, we need to boost the turbine otherwise we cannot perform at the same level in terms of deployment.
“We still have to do some tests and there will be some trial and error. I hope we have understood the direction and the elements to focus on.
“But it’s not easy to combine the elements to realise the improvements on the ICE completely.”
