Rule breaks for Honda

[Dare]

Why not give them a head start and wait for them to self destruct?

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/129136

[Scott]

I don't think they need help, just toss the token program away until they have a unit that is close to the rest.  Let them spend a few hundred million and bring new engines to test every race.  Otherwise I think F1 will lose Honda, and they probably won't ever come back after being humiliated twice in less than a decade.

[Jericoke]

I don't think they need help, just toss the token program away until they have a unit that is close to the rest.  Let them spend a few hundred million and bring new engines to test every race.  Otherwise I think F1 will lose Honda, and they probably won't ever come back after being humiliated twice in less than a decade.

The token system is gone, Honda can bring a thousand engines to free practise and do whatever they want.  However, McLaren still has a limit to how many power units they can use per driver.  Aside from giving Honda the Mercedes schematics, the only thing F1 can do is let McLaren use as many engines as they want without penalty.

Maybe a simple rule rewrite that the '4 per season' engine limits only start counting as soon as a driver earns points?  That gives a slight edge to back marker teams, as they can use fresh engines until things start working well.  And if a top driver has bad luck to start the season, they're not behind the blackball on engine count.

[cosworth151]

If I understand this correctly, it sounds like the Balance of Performance (BoP) used in many sports car racing series. It's purpose is to allow cars of greatly different engines and layouts (flat 6, rear engine Porsches, mid engine V10 Lambos, front engine V8 Mustangs and so on) to compete with each other.

I can see it in a production based series that allows such variations. I thought that F1 insisting the entire field use the same layout & displacement engines & the same style hybrid systems was to eliminate the need for a BoP. The fact that Honda is building an anchor instead of an engine shouldn't override that.

[Robem64]

The fact that Honda is building an anchor instead of an engine shouldn't override that.

This bit really did make me laugh out loud - brilliantly put!