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Honda F1 Gauging ‘Very Complicated’ Penalty Call

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Max Verstappen at 2019 German GP
Max Verstappen in the rain in Germany
Photo: Honda

Honda F1 technical director Toyoharu Tanabe says the manufacturer is facing a “very complicated” decision regarding when to trigger a grid penalty in the second half of the 2019 season.

Formula One teams are limited to three engines per season, with any extra new parts incurring grid penalties. As part of its aggressive engine development, Honda was always planning to introduce more engines than allowed in the 2019 season, but the timing isn’t trivial.

“We are discussing all the time with the teams and we will decide when we apply a new engine or updated spec,” Tanabe said. “At the moment no decision has been made yet. It depends on the situation and timing and the result of the discussions with the teams. It’s very complicated.”

The team’s current Spec 3 engine, which made its debut at the French Grand Prix, has already completed five races (including two wins). After the summer break, F1 will be headed to Spa in Belgium and Monza in Italy, which will be followed by the Singapore Grand Prix, one of Red Bull’s strongest races of the year.

Introducing a new upgrade at Spa or Monza would represent a logical time to take a grid penalty, not just because the team would then have a fresh engine at Singapore, but also because the Spa and Monza circuits are good for overtaking, which reduces the impact of taking a grid penalty.


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However, Honda will also have another race in mind: its home Grand Prix at Suzuka. The manufacturer will be keen on putting on a good performance there, but should it introduce the new engine in Belgium, it will have already been used in four races before heading to Japan.

While Honda believes its engines are not reliable enough to complete six full weekends without issues or significant degradations in performance, it may not be willing to risk a good result at its home race.

Another option would be to introduce yet another new engine at the Russian Grand Prix just before the race in Japan, which would also almost guarantee that Red Bull does not experience any reliability problems — but at the cost of yet more grid penalties.

“We have two types of plan, long-term and short-term,” Tanabe added. “After the race we review the situation, the condition of the PU, maybe two or three races is the short-term. And the long-term means until the end of the season. It is very complicated.”


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