Honda to return to F1 in 2015 as McLaren engine supplier

(L-R) The 2006 Honda RA106, 1988 McLaren Honda MP4/4 and 1965 Honda RA272 Formula One cars are displayed at the company headquarters in Tokyo May 16, 2013.

By Yoko Kubota


TOKYO (Reuters) - Honda is returning to Formula One racing in 2015, after a seven-year hiatus, as McLaren's engine partner, the Japanese carmaker said on Thursday.

The link-up between Honda and McLaren, the second most successful team in the sport after Ferrari in terms of race wins and drivers' titles, will revive one of the greatest Formula One partnerships which was marked by multiple championships with the late Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost between 1988 and 1992.

Honda, who will replace Mercedes as McLaren's engine partner, withdrew from the sport in late 2008 in the middle of a global financial crisis after years of hardly ever winning.

The company said Formula One's new engine regulations would allow it to apply racing technology to its road cars.

"As the direction of Formula One's new technologies and the direction that Honda aims at for development matches, the young engineers who will be responsible for Honda in the future started to voice their desire to take part in the challenge," Honda Motor Co Chief Executive Takanobu Ito told a news conference.

"More so than in the past, we can expect feedback from the race cars to common road cars and vice versa."
Formula One is introducing a new V6 1.6-litre engine aided by high-power turbo technology with energy recovery systems from next season.

Ito gave two examples of technologies that could be applied from race cars to road cars - regenerative energy from the turbo, which changes the turbo's rotational energy to electricity, and downsizing the turbo.
Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren's Chief Executive, said crossover technologies would help the team.

"I think Formula One has been absolutely slow to adapt and to change to the new challenges which are relevant to the needs of society... Downsizing turbo charging, heavier hybrid content, these are areas (in which) I know Honda will excel," he said.

LEARNING FROM ITS LESSONS

In recent years, Honda has been criticized for lacking the daring zeal it once had as an innovator. Ito hopes participation in the sport could change that view.

"We want to be an interesting and exciting company," said Ito, who is known for designing the all-aluminum chassis of the NSX sports car released in 1991.

Honda first announced its intention to participate in Formula One in 1962, a year before it started to sell four-wheelers.

It debuted in the sport in 1964 at the German Grand Prix at the Nuerburgring, and its first grand prix win came a year later at the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix in Mexico City. It withdrew after the 1968 season.

Honda returned to the sport in 1983 as an engine provider and departed again in 1992. Its partnership with McLaren in 1988 led to the most dominant team Formula One has seen, with McLaren's Senna and Prost winning 15 of the 16 races.

In 2000, Honda made a comeback as an engine supplier and joint developer of the chassis for BAR which, in 2006, became the Honda team. During the eight years until its withdrawal in 2008, Honda were triumphant once, when Briton Jenson Button won in 2006 in Hungary.

"My frank view is that it was very difficult to manage the entire operations, not just the engine," Ito said, reflecting on the unsuccessful period.


"We should be modest and learn what we can from having managed a team. But we believe our engine technology will never lose."

Button, who moved to McLaren at the end of 2009, said he was "thrilled and excited" about Honda's return, adding in a statement: "McLaren-Honda: I know how much passion, success and pride are encapsulated within just those two words."

(Reporting by Yoko Kubota; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Clare Fallon)

Source;
http://ca.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idCABRE94F0DA20130516?sp=true

Honda gears up for F1 return as engine supplier

Honda Motor Co. is looking to return to Formula One motor racing as an engine supplier around 2015, a source said Monday.

Honda plans to supply new engines with small displacements, possibly teaming up with its former partner McLaren of Britain, the source said.

Honda withdrew from the F1 grid after 2008 in light of financial difficulties caused by the global financial crisis. The annual costs of joining the race are believed to have topped ¥40 billion at the time.

Honda will carefully assess the financial impact of returning to the sport before making a final decision, the sources said.

Honda, which first joined F1 in 1964, joined for a second stint from 1983 to 1992 and a third between 2000 and 2008.

During its second stint, Honda collected 69 victories under such talented drivers as Ayrton Senna da Silva, triggering an F1 boom in Japan.

The 2015 comeback would be the company’s fourth.

A comeback would likely allow Honda to use F1 technology in producing mass-market vehicles, since the race is set to make a switch in engine specifications to 1,600cc turbocharged V6s from 2,400cc V8s in 2014.

Honda plans to launch several new models around 2015.

Toyota Motor Corp. pulled out of F1 in 2009, leaving the sport devoid of Japanese automakers.

Earlier, vehicle makers Yamaha Motor Co. and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. had also provided engines for F1 racing teams.

Source;
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/03/18/business/honda-gears-up-for-f1-return-as-engine-supplier/#.UUcfRjeReNo

McLaren and Honda getting back together?

By Greg Stuart on 11 March 2013 in F1

 

The dream team from 1988-1992 could be reunited in 2015…

Between 1988 and 1992, McLarens powered by Honda engines won four Drivers’ titles – three for Ayrton Senna and one for Alain Prost – and the same number of Constructors’ championships.

Now the latest rumour going around the F1 paddock is that Honda could be back in F1 by 2015 and looking to provide engines to the team again.

Speaking to Autopsort magazine recently, McLaren Team Principal Martin Whitmarsh was non-committal about whether Mercedes-Benz would continue to provide the team’s engines beyond the 2014 season.

"We have a contract that covers the next three seasons at the moment and we will certainly go into next year [2014] with Mercedes-Benz,” said Whitmarsh.

"There is nothing to announce at the moment,” he added. “I can't elaborate any further.”

Whitmarsh’s comments were analysed by Autosport’s F1 Editor Edd Straw, who was unconvinced that the McLaren/Mercedes-Benz partnership would exist beyond 2014.

“That he specifically confirmed next season, but dodged the issue of 2015 is telling,” said Straw.

“While the dotting of the i’s and the crossing of the t's might be incomplete, both McLaren and Honda plan to renew their partnership on track in 2015,” he added.

Should the rumour turn out to be true, it would bring to an end one of the most established manufacturer/engine supplier relationships in the modern Formula One era.

Following Honda’s withdrawal from the sport at the end of the 1992 season, McLaren languished for several years, using uncompetitive engines from Ford and Peugeot as the Renault-powered cars of Benetton and Williams drove off into the distance.

Mercedes-Benz returned to Formula One as an engine supplier in 1995 and were initially used only by McLaren. Four seasons later, the partnership took its first Drivers’ title with Mika Hakkinen, and claimed the Constructors’ title in the same year. Another Drivers’ title followed a year later, with Lewis Hamilton adding a third in 2008.

The relationship has even continued onto the road, with McLaren and Mercedes-Benz having jointly developed the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren road car back in 2003.

But even though McLaren has seen its fair share of success using Mercedes-Benz power, there’s no doubt that a return to Honda engines, and the subsequent evocation of the Senna/Prost era, would make for a great story.

Source;
http://www.redbull.com/en/motorsports/f1/stories/1331583536261/mclaren-and-honda-getting-back-together-