Ok, so I think we’ve probably all heard enough rants about the crumbling relationship between Honda and McLaren, but I’d just like to make one final plea to the gang at Honda. Please, please, please, please make a Honda works team!
A works team is something that’s missing from Honda’s Formula One project. It’s understandable that you wouldn’t want to dive into Formula One with your own team on the line and would rather pick a team like McLaren to be the test dummies and take all of the negatives and damage from your shortcomings. But it’s been years now and it’s time to get some skin in the game!
People argue that works teams are bad for the sport because it means that customer teams will get subpar power units compared to the works team or even the previous season’s power unit, as we have seen at Ferrari. But the truth is that works teams are spectacular for the sport and, perhaps more importantly, the customer teams.
It’s impossible to say that you can be working at your full potential when the performance of the engine doesn’t really directly impact you. Suppliers are always at arm’s length from the sport, unless they have a works team to push the research and development team to increase performance and results.
The only way to get the Honda power unit to be a decent power unit is through a works team. The answer is not dragging Sauber to their death with the sport’s worst power unit. The answer is to take some risks, get messy and put yourself on the line.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer or company. Assumptions made in any analysis contained within this article are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the author.
