Honda unveils the developments of its 2021 Power Unit

If Honda will no longer be involved in F1 at the end of this campaign, Red Bull recovering the intellectual property on the Japanese powertrain, the Japanese V6 turbo / hybrid is doing wonders at the start of the year.

At the heart of a very efficient RB16, the Honda engine allows Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez to fight with the Mercedes de Lewis Hamilton et Valtteri Bottas, placing Red Bull Racing in a position to challenge for the Manufacturers' title, which the German brand has retained since 2014.

The Japanese engineers have also revealed some interesting technical details around their 2021 creation, which was not supposed to arrive before 2022, but the announced withdrawal of Honda hastened things.

“First of all, we changed the layout of the camshaft to make it more compact, and also lowered its position so that it was closer to the ground, reveals Yasuaki Asaki, in charge of engine development at Honda.

We also had to change the angle of the valve. The main point of the modifications was to improve combustion efficiency. We also had to lower the cylinder head and make it more compact, which means the way the air flows has improved a lot.

And we have also lowered the center of gravity of the heat engine. Another thing we changed is the bore pitch, reducing it, and we made the engine itself shorter, smaller. (This without counting on modifications of various inclinations of different areas of the block)

Another point we had to address is the fact that combustion efficiency has improved. Due to the rules of physics, the amount of energy that can be stored has changed and this means that the amount of energy coming out of the exhaust has decreased.

So, compared to the regeneration we got last year, we increased the power output from the crankshaft and at the same time we ensured the right level of power at the exhaust level. »

Red Bull will keep the Power Unit, with frozen regulations, until around 2025 when new engine blocks are expected. Red Bull Powertrains must in this sense develop its own engine, with the announced recruitment of Ben Hodgkinson, from Mercedes.