(Motorsport-Total.com) – As Honda 2015 with McLaren in the When Formula 1 returned, the Japanese had a hard time. Back then, headlines were not written through efficiency, but instead through regular engine penalties. 2020 could now be the first year in which the Japanese can get through a season without an unscheduled change. At least you are confident about Purple Bull.
“At the moment we are not planning on a fourth engine,” explains team manager Christian Horner. Also 2020 three drives per driver are allowed again, from the fourth engine there are penalties. “If there are only 21 races, then of course it will make our life a little easier” , Horner alludes to the currently indefinitely postponed China GP . On average, an engine would have to last at least seven races.
Max Verstappen believes that the one with the drive, the Honda for 2020 has also been built. “Last year we only used the [zusätzlichen] engines because they were efficiency upgrades – and quite big ones,” recalls the Dutchman. 2019 Verstappen used five instead of the permitted three engines . However, he emphasizes that it would have been possible with less.
Also for 2020 According to Christian Horner, one could consciously accept a penalty. “Efficiency is always above everything else,” he emphasizes. Means: If Purple Bull is already at its limit, but Honda could provide additional performance with an upgrade, another switch would be considered – despite the penalty. The aim is then to “minimize” the effects of the punishment.
Basically, he is with the new Honda engine and also the new RB 16 satisfied on every descend. “We had a good Chilly climate,” he says, explaining that the whole package had been improved together with the Japanese. “The correlation between what we see on the track and the test bench looks great,” said Horner. The staff did a “great job”.
Confident also the first week of testing in Barcelona, through which one came without major problems. With a total of 471 Rounds the RB counted 16 in Spain to the absolute long-distance runners in the field. Only the Mercedes W 11 (494 rounds) unwinded even more rounds. For comparison: 2019 the RB brought it 15 in the first test week with 475 Snappy rounds at the same distance – although there was a whole ticket more struggle back then.
In terms of times, you only sorted yourself into the middle of the field last week the Mercedes best time was almost 1.8 seconds short. But Horner explains that the times of the first week of testing anyway had no relevance . Honda, by the way, is also confident. Formula 1 manager Masashi Yamamoto tells 'Motorsport-Total.com' that on the good end of the season 2019
“In the last half of last season we were pretty competitive and the reliability was very good,” he recalls explains: “Our whisk focus is on maintaining this reliability – but with a little more power.” If you believe the statements of Horner and Co., the Japanese seem to have succeeded this year.
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