Honda resources moving to 2017 as final upgrade nears

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Honda is moving its resources across to its 2017 power unit development team as it nears its final upgrade this season.

The Japanese manufacturer has three development tokens remaining this year after introducing a significant update at the Belgian Grand Prix. Honda's head of F1 project Yusuke Hasegawa says one more power unit will be required this year which will see a final upgrade introduced, with resources starting to move across to a team dedicated to next year's engine.

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"We have three tokens left," Hasegawa said. "Still nine races [from the last upgrade to the end of the year], one more engine needed. One more chance to introduce one more spec up. Still we need time to give me confidence to improve. Combustion update – definitely. If it won’t we will spend tokens for other reasons. So far we plan to introduce it for ICE power."

When asked if Honda is keen to ensure any upgrades this season also have an impact on next year's power unit, Hasegawa replied: "Yes.

"But actually we have a completely separate team from the start of this year concentrating on next year’s engine. We still have this year’s team. Of course we are exchanging information with each other. So then the resource is moving to next year’s engine team."

And Hasegawa says the two teams working in parallel was required because there are still restrictions on what can be achieved even with the removal of the token system next year.

"Not such big [changes]. There’s still some limitation, even without tokens – of course we have some resource and technical limitation. Technology is more important than just having no token."

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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.