Honda’s chief engineer and Formula 1 project manager, Tetsushi Kakuda, explained that his power unit started the 2022 season with many problems, due to the introduction of E10 fuel. All this led to several problems throughout the season, which, however, they hope to put behind them this year with the work they have carried out throughout the winter. More reliability and more electrical management will be the objectives in this new season.
2022 brought with it many changes. Among them, the introduction of a new fuel that affected the performance of the Honda engine. As the head of the Japanese brand in Formula 1 has revealed, it caused reliability problems that were reflected in the results on the track at the beginning of the season.
“We have made every effort to recover performance loss due to E10 fuel introduced in the rule change. As a result, the internal load on the engine increased markedly and reliability was severely compromised,” Kakuda said in a statement published by RacingNews365.com.
“Many problems appeared during the 2022 season and we have been working to correct them for this season,” he added.
One of the main objectives this season is to develop reliability in the power units, which can offer better performance at the level of internal management and work capacity. “Improving reliability is going to help the power unit itself, and by regulation there is a certain type of development that we can do with an improvement in power,” said the Honda manager.
“If reliability can be improved, it will help us to have more options from a strategic perspective and how you can use power units. For this, we are going to be working in collaboration with the team to adopt the best strategy for the power unit”, he added.
For this season, he has also indicated that they have taken an important step in electrical management, which will be seen in what the MGU-K is capable of delivering and that will be noted in the performance levels achieved on the track. “In addition to improving reliability, we have deepened our understanding of our power unit to optimize energy control and management. We have matured in electrification technologies, and now we have an advantage compared to last year, especially in the power delivery of MGU-K”, Kakuda has established for this new campaign.
“We have also continued to work with our suppliers to improve part accuracy in terms of construction, quality inspection, management, and power unit assembly. HRC Sakura has been making every effort for the following seasons, so we believe that We are ready for the preseason tests that they are going to start this week” he pointed out to close.
