• Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas ran eleven engines in 2021.
• This balance sheet has nothing to do with reliability, but instead exploits the unintended consequences of a rule that was once used to save face for Honda in the early days of the turbo-hybrid era.
• For the latest in driving, go to Wheels24.
One of the most delightful ironies of 2021 is the fact that the Red Bull Honda-powered team is battling a team – Mercedes-AMG – that was once known as … you guessed it, Honda Racing F1 Team.
The three-pronged star officially returned to Formula 1 after purchasing the brawn outfit at the end of his 2009 random championship win, which previously existed as a Honda factory performance from 2006 to 2008.
But that wouldn’t be the greatest irony of all. Instead, the very team that the former Honda F1 Racing eventually transformed into – now an arch-enemy of Red Bull-Honda – is increasingly trying to wrest the 2021 championship from Red Bull by exploiting a rule that was once introduced to Honda to save from embarrassment.
Ayrton Senna rides in the rain at the 1988 Hungarian GP (Paul-Henri Cahier / Getty Images)
As?
In 2015, the McLaren-Honda partnership embarked on a nostalgic journey to revive their earlier glory days, led by the godlike hands of Ayrton Senna. It didn’t happen: Honda stepped into the hybrid era a year late; and was a few years behind the then all-conquering Mercedes engine.
Hybrid hell
The thorniest part of the new 1.6-liter turbo V6s for 2014 was the integration of the hybrid with the combustion components, the former including the generator-K engine (for generating kinetic energy) and the infinitely intricate generator-H engine (which converts heat from the turbocharger into stored energy and acts as an anti-lag unit).
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Not just for McLaren, but for any team without Mercedes engines – it was a turbulent time as Renault and Ferrari had similarly underestimated the challenge and as a result suffered shockingly in terms of reliability.
Amazon’s Grand Prix Driver miniseries offers an almost elusive glimpse into McLaren’s misery during his excruciating time at Honda.
Lewis Hamilton.
The constant replacement of engine components made McLaren-Hondas the rule rather than the exception. At the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button qualified in 17th and 18th place respectively. The Spaniard also served a 55-place penalty and his team-mate a 50-place penalty because he exceeded the permitted number of engine components for a long time would have.
It would be ridiculous if only it wasn’t so tragic.
Obviously, the engine penalty system – introduced in 2014 to contain uncontrolled spending, which spurred the development of the new turbo-hybrid engines and then was paid for through a complicated system of 66 tokens for 42 different engine parts – was not working.
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The very public embarrassment of Honda by the eternally pathetic results of McLaren led to the fact that the penalty system was simplified for the 2017 starting grid – and critically only five after that, regardless of the number of engines later used.
During this time, Mercedes continued to fight for the double title until the end of 2020. It was not until 2021 that Lewis Hamilton was able to finally maintain his title lead due to changed regulations, a resurgent Red Bull and a phenomenal recovery from Honda – joining between the two title protagonists throughout the season.
Max Verstappen (front) leads Lewis Hamilton
Confusingly, the paddock whisper that emerged after the Formula 1 summer break was referring to possible reliability issues with the most reliable engine of the hybrid era. This was attributed to an earlier material problem (allegedly fixed from the installation of the fourth engine), but what could not be explained at the time was that Valtteri Bottas received a new engine in Monza, immediately afterwards in Sochi and again in Austin.
If these replacements accurately reflected the condition of the Mercedes engine, they now pushed harder than ever to stay ahead of Red Bull; In fact, the title was as good as gone for Hamilton.
A little expected, the seven-time champion got his fourth engine of the year 2021 in Turkey. What wasn’t foreseen were the beating he received one race later in Mexico, where he crossed the finish line 16 seconds behind Verstappen.
A race later in Brazil, the gloves came off – as did the covers of the fifth Hamilton engine from 2021. Built to survive the minimum of 2,500 km prescribed by the FIA instead of the usual 7,000 km for significantly more power at the price To achieve his reliability, it blew him from last to fifth place in the sprint on Saturday and to victory on Sunday after starting from 10th place.
Valtteri Bottas from Finland drives the (77) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes W12 during the last practice session before the F1 Grand Prix of Turkey at Intercity Istanbul Park on October 09, 2021 in Istanbul, Turkey.
Although special engine modes were banned for qualifying in 2020, a single setting that was nominated prior to qualifying must be used for the remainder of the race. For this engine, this number is “11”; with Sergio Pérez describing the speed of the W12 as “on another planet”.
It was not used in Qatar but will be used again for the last two remaining races.
Why is Hamilton’s fifth engine such a big deal?
In Turkey, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff denied that Mercedes was storing its engine and component pool for a final attack in Jeddah and Abu Dhabi, but the construction and maneuvering behind Hamilton’s Brazil engine (and its non-use in Qatar) prove just that Opposite.
It is now clear that Bottas, neither a contender for the crown nor the golden son of Mercedes, was sacrificed in Monza, Sochi and Austin to test and balance the M12 motor’s speed with survivability before a specification was set and could be implemented on Hamilton’s Brazil engine. where overtaking would be a breeze.
Thus, the Mercedes title winning strategy 2021 was born – from the rule that Honda should save face in 2018: After the 10-place penalty for using the first over-quota engine due to the other side of the W12, the performance advantage he enjoyed over everyone except Red Bull, the five-place descent could easily be overcome for each subsequent engine in the race. After all, Hamilton drives only one of 19 other cars every Sunday.
Lewis Hamilton
Can Red Bull do the same? In any case, but neither the potency peak of the RA621H when fresh nor the waste of a used device (supposedly only 0.1 seconds from new to old) is as noticeable as with the M12.
Are Mercedes’ tactics legal? Yes, although it nullifies the point of teams competing by the same rules if, due to the built-in performance advantage of Mercedes, the sanction of a starting place by five places is far less punishing (or less dissuasive) than a mid-grid team was previously tried the same.
It also goes against the requirement to build engines that were originally intended to run at least seven races apiece.
Should the five-place grid drop be checked?
As a loophole currently yielding a rigged result of a rule put in place with good intentions, yes. Top teams replace engines for imaginary breakdowns because there is no financial or performance penalty. During the McLaren era, Honda swapped engines for reliability. In 2021, Mercedes does it for performance.
Race winner Lewis Hamilton from Great Britain and Mercedes GP celebrates in Parc Ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Brazil at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace on November 14, 2021 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The crux of the matter is that the engine supply is outside of F1’s cost cap. Under the current exemption, each team pays a fixed amount for a potentially unlimited supply of engines. As soon as the rule is changed from three permissible engines to the more practicable four out of five per season, while at the same time falling below the budget ceiling, the problem of experimentation and wanton engine changes will take care of itself.
While Honda was late for the Formula 1 hybrid party, Honda endured misery, rose from the ashes to gloriously overtake Renault and Ferrari in the engine arms race, and today is on the cusp of the final overthrow of Mercedes hegemony.
Should they fail, the shame is all the greater that they will be beaten by the team of the same name in the last year of their participation.
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