03/01/2018
NEWS STORY
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."