Will team Honda benefit.

[futuretiger9]

On the surface, it looks like Honda are just throwing money at the problem, and hoping that it produces the desired results. It does not always work like that. You can have as many people as you like, if they don't work well with the other engineers, success is not guaranteed.

However, the team are making positive noises about this element of the car. Honda really do need to continue the momentum from the latter part of 2006, to achieve this they will need to make aerodynamic improvements. The trouble is, I don't expect that Ferrari, Renault and McLaren have exactly been resting on their laurels either....

[ClarkFan]

It's not so much that Honda is throwing money at a problem, Toyota-style, as bringing an area where BAR was substandard up to par with the other better teams.

Will they get all the way to the front in one jump? Doesn't seem likely - no other team has really done that in the last 15+ years. Even with MS it took Ferrari several years to get to the front and the Williams juggernaut of the 1990s took 1990 and 1991 building momentum.

What I hope to see is Honda more consistently battling for the lead and winning several races this year, but probably not fighting for the championship(s). Next year, if they have gotten their sums right, they could be in the middle of it.

ClarkFan

[airshifter]

As long as they continue to learn from their shortcomings, Honda will become a team to challenge others.

The one advantage that many of the top teams has had in the past was drivers with a lot of experience that can help the teams understand what aero changes work, and which don't. Although Honda doesn't have the most experienced drivers, recent changes move Button up in the experience department compared to some big teams. I would bet money that MS staying with Ferrari is to fill a void that even Kimi and Felipe can't fill when it comes to setting up the cars.

[scaliwag]

It's not so much that Honda is throwing money at a problem, Toyota-style, as bringing an area where BAR was substandard up to par with the other better teams.

Will they get all the way to the front in one jump? Doesn't seem likely - no other team has really done that in the last 15+ years. Even with MS it took Ferrari several years to get to the front and the Williams juggernaut of the 1990s took 1990 and 1991 building momentum.

What I hope to see is Honda more consistently battling for the lead and winning several races this year, but probably not fighting for the championship(s). Next year, if they have gotten their sums right, they could be in the middle of it.

ClarkFan

Clarkfan.
Very much appreciate your input, your posts on all aspects of F1 techno show great insight.
How far do you think Honda are behind the other leading teams, with regard to aero, just how quickly can Honda catch up, is it simply a matter of transferring new aero info into design, (or is it a matter of) try this engineers and hope the new aero info works?
Regards scaliwag.

[Knock-on]

Clarkfan.
Very much appreciate your input, your posts on all aspects of F1 techno show great insight.
How far do you think Honda are behind the other leading teams, with regard to aero, just how quickly can Honda catch up, is it simply a matter of transferring new aero info into design, (or is it a matter of) try this engineers and hope the new aero info works?
Regards scaliwag.

It's not just a case of putting a new, more efficient aero package on the car as matching the aero package to the handling of the car.

One of the problems with the Honda has been it's efficiency over a race distance. It was a good qualifying car that showed such promise. Jenson would wring the socks off the thing and get it up there in a position it shouldn't be. However, the car was never capable of maintaining good race speed because it was working itself too hard. Tyres, brakes etc.

With a more efficient aero package, this can be improved to make a car that isn't just fast but can maintain a good pace for the race. Ferrari are great at this. They can wind it up when they need but most of the time are at 90% to maintain good race pace and reliability. Everyone else is pushing the limits and suffering.

That's why MS only broke down once in the last 3 years. They never really were 10/10ths but they had to be at the end of 06 and we know what happened.

[ioan]

One of the problems with the Honda has been it's efficiency over a race distance. It was a good qualifying car that showed such promise. Jenson would wring the socks off the thing and get it up there in a position it shouldn't be. However, the car was never capable of maintaining good race speed because it was working itself too hard. Tyres, brakes etc.

Driver!
I doubt that the car gets more tired than the driver anyway!

[Valve Bounce]

Honda's biggest problem is that they have lost the best test driver in F1 and possibly a very, very good racer. It remains to be seen how much feedback they are going to get from Super Aguri which may conflict with feedback they get from their own test drivers and race drivers.

I am putting all my marbles in the ring here, and predict that the ant will be the big surprise of this year. (well at least to some people he will be a surprise, but not to me).

According to Eiji, Honda have two parallel departments working on R&D, Toshigi and Honda themselves (I don't know the independance or otherwise of Toshigi), and I still don't know whether Super Aguri's vchassis is kosher. Can somebody shed some light on this?

[scaliwag]

Thanks everybody for contributing to this thread, I apologise for not answering all the posts.

The reason, one of our family dogs, Red is coming to the end of her life and I have to be with her.
May God bless you all.
Regards scaliwag.

[captin 1 VXR]

Jenson would wring the socks off the thing and get it up there in a position it shouldn't be. However, the car was never capable of maintaining good race speed because it was working itself too hard. Tyres, brakes etc.

well have to say with your comment about tyres you are so far off there .
jenson is one of the smoothest driver out there . and tyre wear was not a problem for the team on jensons side .

areo side . yes thay did have major hick ups but now thay have the wind tunnel on the factory site . this will help them and should give them a upper hand over some other teams .

[Knock-on]

well have to say with your comment about tyres you are so far off there .
jenson is one of the smoothest driver out there . and tyre wear was not a problem for the team on jensons side .

areo side . yes thay did have major hick ups but now thay have the wind tunnel on the factory site . this will help them and should give them a upper hand over some other teams .

I totally agree with Jensons skill. I have been banging on about his preciseness and ability for years

He is one of, if not the least demanding driver out there for the speed he gets out of the car. It's no coincidence IMHO that his team mates get more car failures as the Honda has been a bit fragile on occasions and their driving style has not lent well to the longevity of the cars.

What I was trying to say is that the aero package was not benefiting the equipment as say it was in the Ferrari.

Put any of the other drivers in the Honda and I would guess Jenson will come off with the fastest time and best tyres at the end of it.