The evidence that shows Honda can succeed in F1 again
One of Honda's key attributes is one of its biggest flaws, and dates back to its first foray into F1. But the philosophy behind its stubbornness means there's hope it can recover from its so far disastrous F1 engine project. By Stuart Codling.
After three seasons of frustrating underachievement for Honda in Formula 1, you'd be forgiven for believing that failure had become the project's abiding feature, and that Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley are quaking in their boots at the thought of multiple grid penalties and inglorious blow-ups this coming season.
Well, yes and no.
One of Honda's greatest strengths as a brand is also its signature weakness: it's an unashamedly engineering-led company with a burning aversion to doing anything the same way as its competitors, and which views failure as the acceptable cost of learning to win. So it has been in pretty much every field of Honda endeavour (apart from lawnmower engines), from road cars and motorbikes to the racetrack. In the 1960s it started from nothing in F1, rose to win the last grand prix of the 1.5-litre era, then squandered that momentum by diverting resources to developing an air-cooled 3-litre successor.
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After a pandemic-hit winter of seat-swapping, F1 kicked off its season with several new faces in town, other drivers adapting to new environments, and one making a much-anticipated comeback. Ben Anderson looks at who made the most of their opportunity and who needs to try harder…
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Is Formula 1 as good as it has ever been now?
For many, many years Formula 1 has strived to do and to be better on all fronts. With close competition, a growing fanbase, a stable political landscape and rules in place to encourage sustainability, 2021 is on course to provide an unexpected peak
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When a journeyman driver's F1 career lasted just 800m
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How Raikkonen's rapid rise stalled his teammate's F1 career climb
Kimi Raikkonen's emergence as a Formula 1 star in his rookie campaign remains one of the legendary storylines from 2001, but his exploits had an unwanted impact on his Sauber teammate's own prospects. Twenty years on from his first F1 podium at the Brazilian GP, here's how Nick Heidfeld's career was chilled by the Iceman.
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| Series | Formula 1 |