Honda lack of progress this year is puzzling. Of course they’ve been on a downhill curve since the end of 2004, only their pace at the end of last year showed some promise. Over the last half of last year the team lost its key technical staff (Willis, Toet) and had the new tunnel to commission.
The new car appears to have kept a lot of the basic mechanical components, with only the repackaging of the cooling and exhausts inside the sidepods being major alterations. But the team made a big aero change around the rear end but kept the front end pretty much the same. Plus the team had to change the car to suit the Bridgestones, The tyres stiffness and squash characteristics being very different to the Michelins. If you recall Honda never really got to grips with the Michelins since 2004, often finding grip disappeared for final Q runs or in the race.
At the start of the year the drivers complained of instability under braking and a lack of grip. Soon they confirmed the problem wasn’t at the rear of the car but around the front wheels, despite this claim the complex winglets around the sidepods were dropped for Melbourne. Since, Honda haven’t really made big changes around the front wing area, the endplates are derived from 2006 and the wing albeit changed has only now seen a major change to a McLaren-style 3 element big wing, the bargeboards have been tweaked and the pod wings McLaren-ised.
I would say Honda problems stemmed from a lack of downforce (efficiency) at the front and the ability to make the aero work at all attitudes. The Bridgestone front tyres need lots of vertical load to put the heat into them and keep it there, so the big new front wing should be a step in the right direction. To some extent Hondas inability to get the aero and suspension working in unison with the tyres but I would eye the aero as the key issue. I doubt the issue is mechanical in respect to stiffness, Dr Gary Savage (now off to join Willis at Red Bull) is a top engineer, the Honda’s structures are more than stiff enough.
How the team proceed for next year will be interesting. Now devoid of continuity in the senior design and apparently without a hands on technical director there prospects look dim. Hondas increasing input to the team seems to cause problems, where as Super Aguri have Honda more as a sub contractor, dealing with gearbox and electronics. Right now good technical management is what Honda need, I don’t see that a role a corporate Honda engineer can fulfil.
They need someone who will lead the team and direct Hondas input, this is a tough job to fill. The person would need to have a degree of corporate nous but also have demonstrable record of getting the job done, this isn’t a position someone could step ‘up’ to. The shortlist must be pretty small, being a recent F1 tech director.
To my mind the ideal man would be Ross Brawn, with may be Renault man Bob Bell or Mark Smith (ex Renault) as good candidates with some reason to move.
Scarbs...
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You are right; Honda has revised the front suspension. The link below specs new front suspension at the French GP on a revision ... the RA107B. I agree with a little flex in a motorcycle racing frame ... when cornering; bent over at a severe angle - a lateral flex in the chassis ... but not at the steering head. Would it be best at the middle of the frame? Surely not at the swingarm pivot point? I think F1 chassis are a little different. The less lateral/torsional flex the better as the geometry of 4 wheels is more complicated than two wheels plus no lean angles ... they corner pretty flat with the really stiff suspension.
) fully account for aerodynamic loading on the whole car?