General Honda F1 Topic

[Marti_EF3]

Okay, I didn't know that the timeline of FIA was in May too. I'm wrong I think

But I think they don't will care much abot breaking the deal later if the Honda delivers what they want. Even Honda could pay that "charge". Only speculating on that last point

[Big Tea]

Okay, I didn't know that the timeline of FIA was in May too. I'm wrong I think

But I think they don't will care much abot breaking the deal later if the Honda delivers what they want. Even Honda could pay that "charge". Only speculating on that last point

But the above clause also applies to Honda. FIA has to be notified by May that Honda wil supply RBR.

[Marti_EF3]

Until we see how the Honda upgrade performs, I think it have little sense to say RBR will swap to Honda or stay with Renault... Anyway it won't be at May

[gofast182]

I'm not suggesting it is/would be done because they are definitely switching to Honda, I think it is/would be done because they need to de-risk whatever they do next season. All options need to be explored; the stakes for a team like Red Bull are even higher than McLaren at this point.

Are thy? Why?

I believe they are. Here are the reasons why:
1. They already have two high-profile drivers on their payroll and are trying to retain RIC
2. Red Bull wasn't already losing sponsors like McLaren was when Honda came on board so they have more/bigger sponsors to worry about (including former McLaren sponsors)
3. Red Bull Racing is arguably, and has been, the second or third most prestigious name in F1 in recent years

[etusch]

Until we see how the Honda upgrade performs, I think it have little sense to say RBR will swap to Honda or stay with Renault... Anyway it won't be at May

Who knows maybe it is just declaration matter. We only will see update on track and only on track but they don't have only track data. Pu's current situation is good sign for update.
I am not so excited about Redbull declaration but excited for update and every good race of Toro Rosso.

[dren]

The sooner the better for RB to take advantage of a 'works' PU in next year's car design. Honda will have to prove their power update works reliably.

[loner]

The sooner the better for RB to take advantage of a 'works' PU in next year's car design. Honda will have to prove their power update works reliably.

its a no brainer for both , to have the best chassis for your PU and to have a works deal for your team specially if this works deal don't have his own team like Renault.
i think they already signed the contract since last year , Honda won't let Verstappen get into Sakura for free.
i assume RBR is using STR NOW as a chassis development process i won't be surprised if STR out-qualify RBR in the second half of this season based on my assumption RBR in 2019 will share alot of the second half of current season
STR chassis.

[carisi2k]

Toro Rosso might be a test bench but in no way will they be doing any chassis development for Red Bull. The top 3 cars are at least 1 second clear from the top of the mid field and so the STR13 will not be out qualifying RB14 any time soon (excluding penalties and mishaps) even if Honda find 100 more horses. I do believe however that the RB14 with a Honda would also have won the Chinese grand prix as the power is similar to Renault and it was the pit stop strategy that won RBR the race.

[techman]

^ yes, i also believe rebull would have won with a honda engine. for toro rosso to outqualify redbull this season is quite difficult. the gap is over a second. Tr need a massive upgrade to their chassis and the drivers which i believe still learning. so it will be quite hard. i hope redbull can swap to honda this season and compare, if the renault start failing alomost every race

[bauc]

^ yes, i also believe rebull would have won with a honda engine. for toro rosso to outqualify redbull this season is quite difficult. the gap is over a second. Tr need a massive upgrade to their chassis and the drivers which i believe still learning. so it will be quite hard. i hope redbull can swap to honda this season and compare, if the renault start failing alomost every race

Hahaha, again the same mid season PU swap theory as last year? OMG Just stop man, just stop

[carisi2k]

In regards to STR's drivers I feel that Hartley is in the team for development purposes rather then for speed. I feel they will be more tolerant of Brendan because of his experience with the Porsche lmp1 team bring valuable knowledge to Honda.

Gasly on the other hand should be the road runner driver in the team this year and you could expect more performances like Bahrain at circuits that suit the STR13 from him.

[carisi2k]

In regards to the mid season swap I think that is not possible. I was hoping for red bull to have gotten rid of Renault when Toro Rosso got rid of them and imagine how much further along Honda might be if they were in the back of the RB14 as well as the STR13. What might happen is that there might be an rb14H at an in season test session for evaluation purposes.

[Big Tea]

Ref Hartley, Just had a quick look at his ticket and he has worked with several Japanese teams. Anyone know if he speaks or reads Japanese?
Something I had not considered but would be valuable to STR, as would have been with some of the engineers in a previous series.

Being Honest, I did not think he was worth the drive, but if he assists as a facilitator he could be well worth while

[techman]

is pascal wehlein available? i believe TR will give hartley till mid season and might look elswhere. hartley race pace was a second slower to gasly in china. lack of confidence or someting else

[McMika98]

is pascal wehlein available? i believe TR will give hartley till mid season and might look elswhere. hartley race pace was a second slower to gasly in china. lack of confidence or someting else

U need to stop ur psychotic obession of replacing Hartley and this is not the right thread for that discussion. Maybe its Honda fault that he is not getting the drive?
Also pigs might fly before a midseason engine swap. But hope RedBull share info on the tyres and setup, TR really have no clue on sweet spot for tyres and still dont understand why they were best of the rest in Bahrain.