Honda has ruled out a complete overhaul of its power unit concept next year despite a disastrous opening half of the 2017 season with McLaren.
For the first two years of its Formula One return, Honda pursued a unique power unit architecture that saw the compressor and MGU-H nestled in the vee of the engine. This year it has started afresh with a similar layout to Mercedes, but it immediately encountered performance and reliability issues at the opening pre-season test in February.
Honda F1 engine boss Yusuke Hasegawa said the extent of this year's changes was on a par with starting the project from scratch, but he is still confident the new concept has the potential to catch rival engine manufacturers Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault.