It's fair to say that nobody is in favour of the three engine limit to be introduced this season, with some - understandably - more critical than others.

Indeed, other than perennial naysayers Ferrari, Jean Todt appears to be the only one in favour of the rule, which could see some teams - we're mainly talking Toro Rosso here - taking grid penalties before the start of the European season.

Indeed, outgoing Honda boss, Yusuke Hasegawa, believes the 2018 regulations - which sees drivers limited to 3 ICE, 3 turbochargers, 3 MGU-Hs, 2 energy stores, 2 control electrics and 2 MGU-Ks - are unreasonable.

"It's very tough," said Hasegawa, according to Motorsport.com. "It's not just for us, Renault had difficulties. I don't think it's reasonable. From a technical point of view, it's difficult.

"If we save the engine performance, it's easy to achieve," he insists. "If we use 2000 rpm lower, of course we can finish, but there's no point."

Asked if the regulation plays into the hands of Ferrari and Mercedes - which only in a few exceptional cases exceeded their allocation in 2017 - he said: "As a consequence, yes. We have discussed many times.

"With three engines, it means we only have two chances to introduce a new upgraded engine," he continued. "We need to introduce a good engine at the start, but if we don't, we only have two chances to introduce a new engine."

Indeed, in anticipation of possible problems with its 2018 unit, Hasegawa last week revealed that Honda is prepared to use its 2017 engine for the opening races as back-up.

"At this moment, we need to concentrate on reliability, to get an engine to do seven races," he admits. "But we need to improve performance too. It's good we have a baseline. We need to confirm the current engine is OK. As soon as we confirm that, we'll do the next step."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Pavlo, 05/01/2018 23:13

"Agree with "NS Biker". With small adjustment - 3 engines for 21 races mean 7 races per engine. With only 3 penalties they will need 2 times less load on engine, not such a big deal for a great change in reliability. Even more - unlike Mercedes or Ferrari, in Toro Rosso can actually afford it.
If I am not mistaken, in 2017 Honda got more PU penalties per car, so they were already about 2 times less reliable than Mercedes. So if Mercedes would be allowed to have 1 engine per 3 races, Honda would have to take penalty in every (!) race or struggle to finish every second race :)"

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2. Posted by NS Biker, 04/01/2018 23:54

"You would think that after a few years in the F1 Circus, that Y. Hasegawa would actually "Get It". Apparently not.
Competition is about finding the best way or sometimes the only way to beat the competition. Yes there are rules, but find ways to either work around them or within the limits to your own best advantage. Honda doesn't seem to have a full grasp of this concept ... yet.
The limit of 3 engines is for "No Penalties." If you need more then you take penalties. If you need 12 then you will have lots of penalties.
As for running on Fridays and minimizing mileage, not too big a deal. These will be timed-out engines, not the current race units. The exception to this will be the first few races where new units will have to be used for practice. Bet that the Melborne Power Units will be getting used on Fridays well into the season.
Ferrari will likely be using Sauber, their "B Team", to do engine, sorry, Power Unit, development work. So expect to see Sauber taking loads of Power Unit penalties throughout the season as they do the in-service testing of new bits. Wolfe has hinted that Merc could be looking for a team to do that for them as well.
Honda will likely be running through a truck load of Power Units and various components throughout the season. Their goal is probably to develop the system to the point that Red Bull will sign on for 2019. If that is the case, then the championship position of ToroRoso can and probably will be sacrificed to achieve the main goal.
There are rules and penalties, the teams will be busy figuring out how to manage both and achieve the best results. Called competition.
As for getting 20 teams starting at the back of the grid, first one to call "Shotgun" and take the penalty first will be at the head of the line. Maybe this is a competition that Honda can win. By the end of the season they should be good at it.
"

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3. Posted by boatdesigner, 04/01/2018 17:38

"Does this rule really save any money? I'll bet they are now making 10X the parts they actually need so they can examine each part and then pick the most perfect one of the lot. The rest get binned as they don't need that many spares."

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4. Posted by stackvideo, 04/01/2018 10:56

"I'd like to know how they are going to start 20 cars at the rear of the grid "

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5. Posted by V10s4Me, 04/01/2018 9:13

"So with only 3 engines to use for a season without penalty the engineers wont allow anymore mileage on the engines than absolutely necessary on race weekends. So if you pay to go to a Grand Prix you get to see the support races and Grand Prix cars parked in their garages. Bring back the V10's to reintroduce "racing" to F1. "

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6. Posted by Pavlo, 03/01/2018 23:02

"Additionally, I think Mr. Hasegawa got it all completely wrong.
Firstly, they are given a perfect chance to turn their engines to "+2000 rpm" and fight for good points - yes they will have to pay for it in several races mid-seazon, but it's better than being last all the year.
Secondly, completely opposite to what he said, this rule gives them big advantage compared to Ferrari and Mercedes. Honda can introduce the new engine at any point during the year, making good improvements and progress - at almost no cost, as they will anyway be last on ToroRosso chassis with last year engine. Compared to that for Ferrari and Mercedes 10 places penalty is huge, they will not afford it. But if you allow everyone to introduce new engine every race, Mercedes will also evolve quickly, so starting with engine from 2017 Honda has no chances at all."

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7. Posted by Pavlo, 03/01/2018 22:56

"This comes to a dilemma - everyone talks now about reducing the costs, and decreasing amount of parts is one obvious way of doing it. Now the question is, is it worth going that way? If the answer is "yes" - then penalties are inevitable, and I personally find them fair.
Just remember old "good" times when some teams just had limited stock of parts. If something broke - they simply wouldn't start. Now every team is allowed participate, just for a price of a penalty. Maybe fans would prefer if such team would not be allowed to start at all and don't "impact the result" with penalties?"

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8. Posted by bfairey, 03/01/2018 20:02

"What is the point of all this? ICE and MEGU's and the other crap? Let them go racing
Go onto YOUTUBE and check out the V12 Ferrari sound."

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9. Posted by RP, 03/01/2018 19:59

"The fiasco last season with penalties and the impact on the actual racing should have been a lesson. And, the three engine (component) restriction promises to make this season worse. The teams don't want it, the manufacturers don't want and doubtful the fans want it. So Jean Todt decides to show his power. The fuel mileage races became boring. While there may be some amusement watching a Hamilton, Verstappen or other fast driver coming through the pack, a lot of good racing is prevented before the start. Stupid!"

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10. Posted by Pete, 03/01/2018 17:16

"What are the odds on Toro Rosso taking grid penalties in Melbourne? P1, P2, P3 and Qualifying on just three Honda engines?"

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Hasegawa: 3 engine rule unreasonable

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