Why We Should Be Thrilled About Honda's F1 Return

McLaren Honda driven by Ayrton Senna

Earlier this week Twitter went into overdrive as Honda announced their Formula 1 comeback as an engine supplier for McLaren. But why should us car nerds care?

Hondas don’t exactly have the best rep on CT, and regardless of how much Honda’s waffle-rich press release drones on about past glories and dominating F1 in the late ‘80s, it says nothing about the fact that last time Honda ran an F1 team, it was a complete pile of pants. Just ask Jenson Button.

Image via: crash.net

So why should things be any different when this agreement kicks in for 2015?

Well no one ever really doubted Honda’s ability to squeeze large amounts of power from any given engine. The S2000 had the highest specific output of any road car ever until the Ferrari 458 came along. But it was the aerodynamics side that had them in a flap, if you’ll excuse the obvious, awful and oh-so-deliberate pun.

But from 2015 the company won’t have to worry about any of that voodoo nonsense, so they’re free to spend all their time and money tinkering with valves, camshafts and energy recovery systems to squeeze every last particle of energy out of the fuel they’re given. Which, if current enviro-conscious F1 trends carry on, will probably be a combustible mix of patchouli and lemongrass. Whatever... it’s prime Japanese territory.

McLaren Honda driven by Ayrton Senna

Great news then - Honda can stick to what it’s good at, and the engine tech it can develop is directly relevant to its new NSX supercar and others in the pipeline for decades to come. That means sales depend on it, and in turn means that Honda will be busting its balls to make it work.

There’s no point developing the tech and racing it if your cars are finishing last every weekend. Who wants to walk into a showroom and order a car partly derived from a useless racer?

No one. And Honda sales are slipping. So there won't be a single more motivated manufacturer out there.

Last time they were the laughing stock of F1 - the whipping boys, the cannon fodder at the back of the grid. You can bet your life they won’t want a repeat performance and we reckon they might just rattle a few cages.