McLaren Confirms New Honda Engine Design for 2017 F1 Season

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief

It has been confirmed by McLaren that engine supplier Honda will bring in a redesigned power unit for the 2017 Formula 1 season.

The Japanese manufacturer returned to the sport in 2015, scoring a woeful 27 points as McLaren-Honda only managed to finish ninth in the constructors’ standings. However, 2016 saw a dramatic improvement as the Woking-based team scored 76 points and finished sixth in the constructors’ standings with Fernando Alonso finishing fifth on two occasions (Canadian Grand Prix, U.S. Grand Prix).

The team’s technical director, Tim Goss, has confirmed that Honda will bring in a new power unit.

“For 2017, the Honda engine architecture and layout have been altered to serve both for performance and packaging needs,” Goss said, on the team’s website.

“The new power unit takes much of the learning from the past two seasons, but has been specifically redesigned for this season.”

Along with the scrapping of F1’s token system, a plethora of technical regulation changes bring a huge unknown to this upcoming season, something that Goss said is likely to shakeup the competition.

“We’ve had bigger changes in the past – the change between 1982 and ’83 from ground-effect to flat floors, for example, which had a massive impact on performance – but this season’s changes rank as some of the most significant we’ve ever had in the sport,” Goss said.

“That’s likely to change the competition order – because it’s such a big disturbance – but then what normally happens is the best and most well-equipped teams tend to rise to the top again.”

About Joey Barnes 596 Articles
Joey Barnes is the Founder of Motorsports Tribune, an outlet that began with the goal of helping aspiring journalists break into and grow the industry. A regular on the racing scene since 2013, the journey for Joey started by covering a Grand-Am event at Circuit of The Americas in his home state of Texas. He has since primarily focused on the IndyCar Series, with appearances in the garages of NASCAR, paddocks of Formula 1, IMSA and World Endurance Championship, while also occasionally engulfing clouds of dust at the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals and select Supercross rounds. With previous stops at Autoweek, IndyCar.com, Motorsport.com and RACER, among others, Joey evolved from the singular task as a freelance writer to advanced roles behind the copy desk and alongside some of the best editorial teams in the business. Recognized as a multi-time award winner by the National Motorsports Press Association, Joey currently resides in Dallas-Fort Worth with his trusty four-legged canine companion, Rocket.

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