Honda’s boss Yusuke Hasegawa has admitted changing the concept on its 2017 power unit is a risk.
On their return to F1 with McLaren in 2015, the results have been very wide of the mark, despite having a much better 2016 season, Honda has still been behind the other manufacturers.
In an effort to try and capitalise on the removal of the token development rule, Hasegawa believes Honda is taking risks with its new engine concept.
Hasegawa told Autosport: “The concept is completely different.
“It’s very high risk, we don’t know a lot of things about that new concept.
“We know it will give us a performance advantage but the biggest risk is whether we can realise that potential this year.”
In a bid to learn from its misfortunes over the past two seasons, the new power unit is expected to be completely redesigned.
Hasegawa admits the internal combustion engine is still the main focus for improvements, but other parts are still being developed in partnership with it.
“We need to concentrate on the ICE for this year,” Hasegawa added.
“If we improve the engine itself, which means boosting exhaust gas energy, we need to boost the turbine otherwise we cannot perform at the same level in terms of deployment.
“We still have to do some tests and there will be some trial and error. I hope we have understood the direction and the elements to focus on.
“But it’s not easy to combine the elements to realise the improvements on the ICE completely.”
