ringo wrote: We still don't know what their concept is, but it seems to be better in theory than it is on the track.
They can say hello to Renault on this one.
Though i'm more inclined to think it's their ERS more so than the ICE that is holding them back.
As strange as it is but Renault seems to be struggling mostly with the ICE. Knocking seems to be the real Elephant in the Room and even Merc seems to be held back by this from dominating even worse. Only Ferrari shot themselves in the foot last year by compromising ERS for aero.
My suspicion is, it is a bit of both. The tight packaging indicates they might have pursued last year's approach by Ferrari and compromised ERS for packaging. However, they seem to be lacking more power than did Ferrari last year. If you combine the failures of Renault and Ferrari of last year though, (lacking ICE power due to knocking plus compromised ERS) you would end up pretty much where Honda looks to be at currently.
Looking at the progress of Renault and Ferrari, respectively this Year, ERS seems to be easier to fix than ICE.