Honda: "McLaren finds it hard to adapt to change"
- Published on 19 Sep 2017 10:05
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- By: Rob Veenstra
Honda thinks Toro Rosso could be a better fit for the Japanese marque than McLaren. After the split was announced in Singapore, Honda's senior F1 chief Masashi Yamamoto said he would have preferred to keep racing with McLaren next year. He said a lack of performance and reliability "created tension between us" and led to the split.
However, Honda will race on next year with Toro Rosso, Red Bull's junior team. "The regulations go on until 2020 so we still have three years and we want to show our improvements in the technology," said Yamamoto.
So rather than see it as a step down in the paddock, Yamamoto thinks Toro Rosso could even be better for Honda than McLaren was. "First Mr (Franz) Tost knows a lot about Japan. He understands the culture and it's a good communication that we have," said the Japanese.
"Working with McLaren, I've realised that they are a very big company which is very systematic," Yamamoto explained. "It's obviously very strong because of that but at the same time they can find it hard to adapt to change. Compare that to Toro Rosso, it is a company that is growing."
"Take this for an example: if we compare both teams with different cuisines, let's say McLaren is a very sophisticated French cuisine -- that's the way it is. Toro Rosso is more like a countryside, homemade delicious stew where you can add new ingredients. We're excited to do that," he added. (GMM)
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Replies (8)
Login to replykngrthr
Posts: 203
so many words. just words.
we don't want to see your "improvements in the technology"
just make an engine thats fast, hangs together and doesn't use more fuel. then we will listen to the words.
talktohenry
Posts: 362
Think Mc laren had no choice as they needs to sell cars and ya can't market cars when the F1 team can't even finish a race and Renault engine will only get stronger...
Barron
Posts: 625
Hmmmm. "McLaren finds it hard to adapt to change". What's wrong with that statement? Everything. F1 is a fast moving fluid environment where change happens every minute of every week. If anyone found it hard to "change" it was surely Honda who wanted to plod along at their own development pace. I hope they do well with "Chicken Soup" I mean Toro Rosso. I can't in see that now - TR will always be Chicken Soup from now.
mbmwe36
Posts: 533
I think he does have a point. From the outside it looked like McLaren had zero knowledge of Japanese culture, and how to motivate them. I think Toro Rosso will do much better in that regard.
Now I know some will say that Honda should get motivated by themselves because of their bad results, and that is correct, they should. But F1 is a game of marginal gains, and you just go that one step further in a working relationship if you feel respected and appreciated - when you feel like there is no way you can let your boss or your partner down because they believe so much in you. Couple that with Japanese culture, where honor and respect is so important, and it's easy to see why it never really worked out.
Kean
Posts: 692
McLaren changed from the best PU on the grid to the worst PU on the grid, who wouldn't find it hard to adapt to that type of change. McLaren would have adapted better, and coped with the different culture at Honda if Honda had produced a competetive PU.
mbmwe36
Posts: 533
So McLaren failed to do their due diligence, and paid for it.
Here is what I don't understand, when McLaren used Mercedes power, they must've known how much power that engine produced, just like they must've known roughly where Honda was at. But I remember Honda telling everybody that would listen how powerful their engine was around January/February. Surely mercedes and Ferrari didn't just stumble across 100 bhp over the winter, so I'm wondering what exactly happened there.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I think that applies for both Honda and McLaren, but in different ways.
Barron
Posts: 625
Actually I don't think it was for McLaren to change, why shouldn't Honda have changed their style of operating? After all, it is they who are entering a Western dominated engineering culture. So McLaren had to go all Japanesey? Don't think so.