2017 Bahrain GP

[zako85]

I think that the McLaren is fine, it's the Honda engines which are rubbish. Honda has reverted to being Honda. They are a company of tinkerers. We saw this when Button last drove for them.

In the opinion of many automotive journalists, Honda is not just a company run by the tinkering engineers, but it's also the company composed of the most stubborn ones. These people religiously believe that their way is the right way, and they keep on doing things their way, always. Another problem is that according to many, Honda lost its way some time in the early 00s. They really should have moved their F1 engine building business into UK. At this point, Honda's involvement in F1 is looking just very bad. Their current return into F1 is looking worse than Porsche's in 1991. How could such great automotive companies go so wrong..

[zako85]

Here is the question for the experts: which drivers did not screw up something and run a great race from beginning to the end?

[Rollo]

In the opinion of many automotive journalists, Honda is not just a company run by the tinkering engineers, but it's also the company composed of the most stubborn ones. These people religiously believe that their way is the right way, and they keep on doing things their way, always.

I remember Eddie Lawson, Wayne Gardner and Mick Doohan all complaining about this very thing. They'd complain to the engineers who'd have a tinker and then it would be wrong in an entirely different way.

[Owain]

In the opinion of many automotive journalists, Honda is not just a company run by the tinkering engineers, but it's also the company composed of the most stubborn ones. These people religiously believe that their way is the right way, and they keep on doing things their way, always. Another problem is that according to many, Honda lost its way some time in the early 00s. They really should have moved their F1 engine building business into UK. At this point, Honda's involvement in F1 is looking just very bad. Their current return into F1 is looking worse than Porsche's in 1991. How could such great automotive companies go so wrong..

I don't think Honda are any exception in that respect.

BMW divorced from Williams because they were adamant that they could do a better job of running a team. Within five years they were gone from F1, while Williams have recovered a great deal and are still with us. Toyota made some crazy decisions (e.g. basing themselves in Germany) when running their own team, and would probably have done better had they become an engine supplier instead. Ferrari stuck with V12 engines for years when it was almost universally acknowledged that V10s provided the best compromise between power and fuel efficiency, but had the good sense to eventually admit that they were wrong.

However, being stubborn can sometimes work out. When Renault introduced turbos they were a laughing stock. Within half a decade, they were world championship contenders, and all the other competitive cars also had turbo power.

Either way, I hope that McLaren and/or Honda sort things out. It has been painful to see someone as talented as Alonso wasting away in the midfield.

[Rollo]

However, being stubborn can sometimes work out. When Renault introduced turbos they were a laughing stock. Within half a decade, they were world championship contenders, and all the other competitive cars also had turbo power.

Renault also did this:



They took their EF engine, enlarged it and then ran it in a far harder laboratory until it broke. They only found reliability in F1 after they'd been to Le Mans.

Honda haven't yet taken their engine to Le Mans to try and break it.