Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

McLaren urges Honda to recruit from rivals

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McLaren racing director Eric Boullier has urged Honda to recruit employees from rival engine manufacturers Ferrari and Mercedes to help speed up development.

Honda returned to F1 this season, one year after the V6 turbo power unit regulations were introduced. Mercedes has dominated under the current rules so far having committed to its project well in advance of 2014, while Ferrari made a major step forward this season after getting its concept wrong last year. Honda, meanwhile, has struggled for reliability, though it showed signs of improvement in Hungary.

Asked by F1i during an exclusive interview if Honda has been hurt by not being in F1 before the current power unit regulations were introduced, Boullier replied: “Yeah, definitely.

“Honda could have bought some experience from other engine manufacturers and maybe should actually. We would recommend it just because to make sure you go faster and you accelerate your development program because they have solutions ready to fix things, or maybe some understanding.”

However, when asked at Silverstone if Honda would be looking to recruit from the likes of Ferrari or Mercedes, motorsport boss Yasuhisa Arai replied: “I don’t think so. We have enough resources already.”

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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.