Teh Formula 1 Encyclopedia: 2018 Edition.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Honda, Renault, Porsche had all won championships before... Looking at long term, they can all be good bets. Short term, surely all 3 could falter.

The main reason is that RB's relationship with Renault has gone sour over the years so I think they're willing to dump Renault for whoever's reasonably good enough. I'm just surprised they think Honda's good enough now. TR has definitely demonstrated that they are not the slowest on the grid, but they're definitely not consistently fast. Anyway, I hope RB really has good engineering data to back up their decision.

If RB really won the title next year with Honda, McLaren folks probably would contemplate suicide.

[FaultyMario]

I wonder if Domenico Stefanali is behind Porsche's success in WEC or if it's because ze germans are good at racing in general. I say that because I don't think VAG would throw Porsche into F1, I'd see more a Lamborghini and Audi ccccombo.

Billi, the Renault/RBR partnership didn't go sour. Cyril went out of his way to keep Horner cozy, but in the end, it's free engines homes, free engines!

On the suicide note, some managers have actually lobbied the Ojjehs to reinstate Whitmarsh. I guess that amounts to loading the proverbial gun.

[Blerpa]

CI, Red Bull is jumping to Honda so they won't have to pay for engine supply, and actually Honda will give them money to run their engines. That's RB point.
And RB has conviniently played the "Renault's engine is not good enough" card every single time their efforts failed in a race or a season, since like ever.

About McLaren we will see.
You are all rambling about as if Honda and Toro Rosso were miles ahead... and instead they are almost constantly failing to pose a threat to McLaren. Point standings seems to be clear about that, but nice try about media to play the opposite angle.
Honda engines are just a little bit reliable right now (and fuck, after 4 years trying I'd hope so!) but not much else more.
Right now McLaren Renault is the 5th team on the team standings, behind the 3 main manufacturers and the Red Bull.
Everyone else is behind and Toro Rosso, 7th in the standings, has less than half the points of McLaren.

Oh yeah, McLaren is SO regretting those Honda engines. Truly.

Last year Toro Rosso ended up racking 53 points. McLaren 30 points.
So far McLaren is already 10 points ahead last year final result at 40. Toro Rosso is at 19.
Toro Rosso managing 53 points by the end of this season? Probably a miracle is needed, especially since they renewed Hartley.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Thing with McLaren is that they always assumed they're behind because of Honda's sorry ass.

However, reality is that the Woking outfit is fucked up right now. They are currently the slowest running Renault powered cars with Alonso behind the wheel!

OTOH, Honda's reputation had gone so bad that even Sauber doesn't want it... and tried their darnest to get rid of it.

And also thank to Gasly, TR's current performance is already a pleasant surprise. If TR has 2 Gaslys, they just might outscore McLaren! Free engine's nice, but surely that alone is not good enough reason to risk 2 years with Honda if Honda really isn't getting better...

One can't help but wonder how long can McLaren last if they continue like this. Maybe they'll dominate in Indycars!

[Crazed_Insanity]

Billi, the Renault/RBR partnership didn't go sour. Cyril went out of his way to keep Horner cozy, but in the end, it's free engines homes, free engines!

Yeah, I know Renault is probably bending over backwards for RB, it's RB who's constantly thinking of dumping Renault. I think I saw articles saying Mercedes decided to not partner with RB mainly because they saw how disrespectful they were when it comes to treating Renault.

Honda doesn't mind being a submissive bitch while paying at this point in time I guess.

[FaultyMario]

Respect, how much is that worth?

[Blerpa]

If, if and if.

Yet the reality is that McLaren is 5th in the team standings and Toro Rosso is 7th.
One with 40 points, the other with 19.
So it's just ludicrous blabbing.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Com'on, Toro Rosso and Sauber out qualified and finished ahead of both McLarens in Canada!!! That's doesn't look very good don't you think?

Season is still long, let's see how things pan out.

[Alan P]

Honda, Renault, Porsche had all won championships before... Looking at long term, they can all be good bets. Short term, surely all 3 could falter.

The main reason is that RB's relationship with Renault has gone sour over the years so I think they're willing to dump Renault for whoever's reasonably good enough. I'm just surprised they think Honda's good enough now. TR has definitely demonstrated that they are not the slowest on the grid, but they're definitely not consistently fast. Anyway, I hope RB really has good engineering data to back up their decision.

If RB really won the title next year with Honda, McLaren folks probably would contemplate suicide.

In terms of engine suppliers in F1 at the moment both Ferrari and Mercedes declined to supply engines to Red Bull. Which leaves Renault, who aren't best pals with Christian, Dieter etc or Honda as RB's only option. Better the devil you know perhaps, but there's every indication that after a few terrible, awful years with McLaren they finally got the basic layout right at the beginning of 2017 and just needed improvements and upgrades to start matching Renault at least. Although there's always diminishing improvements Honda are nipping at the heels of Renault in overall power and that's after Renault have had far longer to develop than Honda have. If Honda keep up their trend they'll be ahead of them by next season.

[JoeW]

I will say that if I were to have to choose between Honda or Renault to supply my engines in a fictional startup race series with a new engine design I would most certainly choose Honda. I don’t know what it is but I think that they are one of the few companies who will push beyond their limits to uphold your expectations and their own reputation.