The removal of the token system won’t have a major impact despite time restrictions having been the biggest limitation for Honda’s engine development, according to Honda’s Formula 1 chief, Yusuke Hasegawa.
The token system, which was introduced along with the V6 turbo power units, restricted in-season development with the intentions of keeping costs down. The four engine suppliers received a set number of tokens per season, which could be spent on upgrading engine components after the power unit was homologated.
With the Honda engine not meeting expectations since they returned to the sport in 2015, it might be expected that the manufacturer would be welcoming the decision to scrap the system this season, but Hasegawa is not expecting it to have a major impact.
“Time limitations are the biggest, as well as technical limitations and, of course, budget limitations,” he told RACER.
“Of course, if we have plenty of time, we would have a chance of catching up other teams, but we can’t use that excuse.”
Hasegawa doesn’t believe Honda’s late arrival to the V6 era meant the token system affected them more than their rivals.
“Of course, we had to consider how many tokens we had available to use and how to spend them, but it wasn’t a big limitation other than that,” he said.
“Once we had decided a direction most of the things can be fixed. Something like combustion cost only about three tokens so, of course, it is difficult to update several times with tokens, but in the winter you could modify that completely.”
Honda didn’t use all 32 tokens available to them last season, ending the year with one token left.
Comments.
Loading comments…