Honda goes into shutdown at another time; FIA explains why

The shutdown of factories in the spring of 2020 due to the corona virus has caused some headaches at the FIA. How to ensure that one or more manufacturers are not affected by a 'shutdown' because they happen to be located in another country. Especially the position of Honda was difficult. Nikolas Tombazis of the FIA explains why.

“The shutdown for Honda was a bit different to the shutdown for the rest of the manufacturers",  Tombazis explains to Motorsport.com. “Not in terms of duration, but in terms of when it happened."

Shutdown equal, only moment is different

Tombazis then explains that it was intended that every team and every manufacturer should close the factory for the same length of time, regardless of the country in which they are located. In Japan, COVID-19 developed very differently from Europe. When the spread of the virus was at its peak here, it was under control in Japan.

However, there was always a chance that the virus would later manifest there as well and they would have to go to Lockdown, for example in the summer. In order to prevent all manufacturers from having to go into lockdown at that time according to the principle of equality, the FIA decided that Honda could continue to work in the spring and complete their lockdown period at this time.

Honda update not intended to make engine more powerful

Honda has been able to work through the months before the start of the season and came to Austria with an update. Tombazis emphasized that this was not a so-called 'performance upgrade', but an update of reliability. After the first homologation in February this year, this would not be allowed.

"None of the manufacturers have done a new homologation or any other significant upgrade. The participants were homologated in February this year and none of them, including Honda, has developed the performance of the engine since then".