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Honda to return (46 posts)

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Antonio Nartea said 3 months, 2 weeks ago:

@benh – As far as I know there are different costs for the engine block per se and different costs for the gearbox, KERS unit, support and so on… I might be wrong, though. Maybe someone with a little more expertise could clear this issue out. But I truly don’t think Cosworth (par-example) are charging the same as Ferrari or Merc for the engines. That doesn’t make sense.

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BenH said 3 months, 2 weeks ago:

Thinking back, I think this was something that was meant to be coming in with the whole budget cap/cost cutting thing that never happened. So probably have heard it before in F1 circles, but may not actually apply.

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Ratboy said 3 months, 2 weeks ago:

They are possibly Honda way back….

I’ll get my coat…..

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Journeyer said 3 months, 2 weeks ago:

@BenH Please name those he got wrong, because I don’t recall any. Take note, the gossip section of the BBC F1 website (which is an awful idea) is different from an article actually written by someone from BBC (i.e. Benson). And while EJ did scoop Lewis to Merc, who actually wrote about it on the website and published it? Benson of course.

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Abdurahman said 3 months, 2 weeks ago:

Isn’t Honda in Indycars now and last year with a V6 turbo? Anybody know the specs on those powerplants?

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BenH said 3 months, 2 weeks ago:

@journeyer id be more than happy to, if the BBC’s site had any easy way to look at/search for past articles by Benson. So far I have found no such functionality. I will keep looking though and see if I find it, but im sure many others here will remember examples of his “journalism”

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BenH said 3 months, 2 weeks ago:

As good as an official Team press release, Whitmarsh confirms that they are in a contract until the end of 2015 “at least”.

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Journeyer said 3 months, 2 weeks ago:

Martin Whitmarsh was very coy there. And as always, F1 contracts are worth little more than the paper they’re on. Cases in point (relative to engine supply): Williams’ engine supply with BMW was supposed to be until 2009 – that was terminated in 2005. McLaren’s engine supply with Peugeot was supposed to be until 1997 – that was terminated in 1994 (after just one year), ironically enough, in favor of Mercedes. The way I see it, compared to those two examples, a contract with just one year left on it can probably be terminated easily if it came to that.

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Antonio Nartea said 3 months, 2 weeks ago:

We’ve got a good and long-standing commitment to Mercedes-Benz, that’s what we’re focused on right now.

I think “right now” are the key words in all of Whitmarsh’s statements about the relationship between McLaren and Mercedes. “Right now” Honda is yet to confirm whether they are coming back in 2014, 2015 or at all. There might still be discussions with Honda and deals taking shape but it’s all in a preliminary phase and no one in McLaren’s management will be stupid enough to say something along the lines of “we’re taking to Honda, Merc can take their engines and shove them in Hamilton’s rear…side of the car”.

What if Honda actually reassesses its position and decides coming back to F1 is not such a safe bid afterall? What if they can’t actually put the engine together that easily as we all think they could? And what about this year, when both McLaren and Merc are potential title contenders? They won’t risk throwing bricks at their relationship with the current engine supplier over something that isn’t yet set in stone.

As for the so called “contract”, Razia also had a contract with Marussia, didn’t he? And look at what @journeyer said above. These situations are all proof that a piece of paper is never worth that much in F1.

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Prisoner Monkeys said 3 months, 2 weeks ago:

Martin Whitmarsh was very coy there.

Eh, I think people might be reading too much into Whitmarsh’s comments. I think someone – I can remember who it was – was dead on when they posted that Benson’s article was totally devoid of anything substantial enough to be called factual, and that the entire thing stank of an article written to get traffic onto the site. Whitmarsh seems to be putting out fires, knowing that rumours can spread thick and fast if you don’t manage them. That’s probably what Benson wants, because in Formula 1, a denial is often seen as being a good as confirmation.

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Alex green said 3 months ago:

Seemingly a done deal for 2015 according to a japanese newspaper

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andae23 said 1 month ago:

Honda is giving a press conference in a minute. It’s expected they will announce their F1 return. Link:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/honda-news-channel-e

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andae23 said 1 month ago:

McLaren-Honda it is!

Honda confirm F1 return with McLaren in 2015

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BasCB said 1 month ago:

Lets hope they make a success of it! Oh, and please update the livery

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Prisoner Monkeys said 1 month ago:

@bascb – There’s no reason for McLaren to continue using silver. Especially when white is Honda’s colour.

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