F1 News
Tense atmosphere at Honda because of COVID-19 is 'nerve wrecking'
- GPblog.com
All teams and engine manufacturers had to shut down operations at the plant immediately after the corona crisis broke out. It remains to be seen to what extent they were all equally affected by this. Honda thinks that the difference for AlphaTauri was made especially after the 'shutdown'.
Masamitsu Motohashi, chief engineer of Honda's F1 project, tells Auto Sport Web that teams and engine manufacturers had no advantage or disadvantage over each other during the shutdown. According to him, the FIA acted very honestly in this respect and was the same for everyone. Although AlphaTauri in particular has had some start-up problems.
Shutdown was the same for everyone, but after that...
"I think it makes a difference in how intensively we were able to develop and update in the short period of time after the shutdown", says Motohashi. But can we see that difference in start-up capacity back on the track now is the question?
"I think that's true to a certain extent. Of course, development continued even after the cancellation of the original season opener in March, so it's about how much we were able to put it into a realistic form."
Threat of COVID-19 remains
The measures taken against the spread of COVID-19 also pose problems on a day-to-day basis. Although it has all gone well so far, the threat of contamination creates a tense atmosphere within the team.
"It's a factor I hadn't been paying attention to before, and it's very nerve-racking. One person's infection can affect the whole team. We're all very aware of that, and we all refrain from going out of the hotel, and we disinfect and gargle frequently."