According to BBC Sport, Honda has been quietly negotiating with the FIA regarding the would-be engine freeze, which would have affected the team in the 2015 season, and has made a major breakthrough.
An
FIA
ruling on Friday has stated that Honda will be allowed to develop its engine during the 2015 season albeit with a reduced number of “tokens” available to them. With a Formula 1 Power Unit being comprised of 66 tokens, each component being assigned a weighted value based on its significance to overall performance, Mercedes, Ferrari, and Renault will enjoy 32 available tokens in the 2015 season while Honda will get a smaller amount (that number is still to be determined).
The main consideration for the overall decision to allow Honda to develop their engine was outright fairness (and probably to avoid what could have been a legitimate and disruptive challenge by McLaren during the season). The more nuanced part of the decision to limit the number of “tokens” available to them was made after rival teams pointed out that Honda was able to glean both conceptual as well as performance information from other teams’ Power Units last year, a luxury which those teams did not enjoy before introducing them for the first time in 2014.
Check out the original story from BBC Sport http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/30860212 and be sure to let us know what you think here on ToV Motorsports.
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