Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Honda yet to confirm plan for tokens

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Honda has yet to finalise a plan to use tokens to develop its power unit this season, according to motorsport chief Yasuhisa Arai.

The FIA conceded a loophole in the regulations allows in-season development of the power units, still limited by the token system which allows manufacturers to update certain components. With Honda a new supplier in 2015, the FIA gave it nine tokens based on the average number left available to the other three manufacturers.

While Honda has started the season with an uncompetitive and unreliable power unit, Arai says no decision has yet been made on how to spend its allocation.

“We don’t actually have a plan to use the tokens,” Arai told F1i. “Of course we will use them in-season, but right now we don’t have any actual schedule.”

The comments come despite racing director Eric Boullier saying Honda will have a new spec of power unit in Barcelona, which Arai says will be focused on extracting more power from the engine.

“I told some Japanese journalists that we will have two more cylinders! Anyway, we need more power, not only for Barcelona but that’s another step in the story. Maybe we will be able to apply more power for the next race and Monaco and Canada.”

Click here for a look at the radical Honda power unit design

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.