Honda will keep the same engine concept in 2018

While the future of Honda en Formula 1 remains pending at McLaren or at Sauber, Japanese engineers are not abandoning the development of the current V6 hybrid nor that of next season.

« We never stop growing, comments Honda F1 project manager Yusuke Hasegawa, we must continue our improvements. Of course, performance and results are the most important but we also need to learn for the future. Compared to last year, we needed to modify the engine concept but next year, we will keep this same concept."

Honda suffered from a change in engine design over the winter, causing it to race for time to be ready for pre-season testing which proved disastrous for McLaren. The Japanese engine manufacturer does not want to relive this situation in 2018.

« It’s good that we can use the same concept since this year’s development is directly linked to next year’s. This means that we don't have to stop our current development, and from this point of view, we have already started working on next year's design. »

While the Spec 3 engine was introduced on the single-seaters of Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne, Honda is currently working on the Spec 4 and the 2018 engine simultaneously.