McLaren-Honda - The return of bizarreness?

Honda’s favorite drivers:

Remember the 1986 season? The Battle between Williams teammates?

Williams had a far superior car then the rest of the grid. Piquet Sr. was backed by Honda, and it was reported that Williams hired Piquet sr. as the numero uno driver, as requested by Honda. But it was Mansell who was preferred by the team as the numero uno driver. The battle between the teammates resulted in Alain Prost winning the championship, despite being in the inferior car.

The Prost/Senna saga, as we knew, was also caused due to Honda favoring a particular driver.

The list goes on. Satoru Nakajima, and Takuma Sato were all deeply related to Honda. Even now, when Honda announced its decision to re-enter Formula 1, Sato was again rumored to make his comeback, although he strongly denied these rumors. Jenson Button had contractual disputes early in his career. For the 2005 season, Jenson used a loophole in his contract with BAR to sign for Honda, however the Contract Recognition Board ruled in favor of BAR, which resulted in Jenson extending his stay with BAR. For the 2006 season, Jenson again signed a contract with Williams, but this time, Jenson was too tempted with Honda’s deal over BAR ,which forced him to boycott his contract with the Williams team. It was reported that Williams received a £18 million compensation package for Jenson’s violations of the contract. In the case of Jenson’s deal with BAR for the 2005 season, he stressed on the fact that BAR didn’t have a definite contract with Honda which forced him to sign with the Williams team.

And lastly, the most bizarre concept that Honda follows is their naming pattern. Be it the chassis or the engine, it starts with ‘RA’, and we are not sure why they have continued to use the code for more than five decades with their motorsport policy.

The Timescape:

We should be really looking forward to the McLaren Honda deal, not just for their performance on-track, but also their performance off-track as well. For sure, McLaren and Honda would be wiser from the experience they had in Formula 1.

But still it would be interesting to see Jenson vs Perez/his replacement.

Would Honda go crazy over Jenson, and back him for the championship? Or would Honda look at younger prospective and favor him for a long term development? Or Would there be a neutral parity of drivers?

We also know that, Marussia would be needing a new supplier for the 2014 season and beyond. Considering the fact that Honda’s deal with McLaren is not exclusive, maybe Honda needs to tempt Marussia in joining them. Marussia already have a partnership with McLaren for technical sharing of data. With Honda joining the mix, Marussia might well act as a satellite team for driver development and beyond.

This would be our take on the scenario, however Marussia-Ferrari seems to be likely possibility.

Also Honda joins the Formula 1 wagon, only in 2015. That’s an year after from the introduction of new regulations.

Does Honda benefit from the late arrival? Or would they lose out on the extra mileage gained by these manufacturers?

Although, any kind of mileage would benefit a manufacturer, Honda should be better prepared with their late entry, as they would have enough time to do their simulations, and ease out any teething troubles that may arise on their way. However, considering the fact that BMW too have provided same expectations during their arrival in Formula 1, and considering the timeframe that took them to ease out their reliability issues, Honda should be cautious with their programme.

We still believe that Honda has an edge over other manufacturers, as the amount of R&D and the simulation that exists on the table now will surely benefit Honda, and they should be able to provide their best services to McLaren, right from the word ‘Go’.