Honda get ExxonMobil Fuel Boost for 2019

Honda and its increasingly promising engine development in the 2018 season, has lifted Red Bull’s hopes, that it can target strong results from the off when it partners with the manufacturer in the next year.

ExxonMobil’s global motor-sports technology manager David Tsurusaki said in an exclusive interview with Autosport, that “When we had this announcement with Honda and Toro Rosso last year, it meant only getting ready for Barcelona testing in December – which was a short timeline.”

“But now, after a year of continuous change, adjustments and testing, we have already been working on 2019, which is really where you want to be”, he continued.

“You don’t want to be doing all your upgrades and preparations during the year, and then at the end of it start working on 2019. You want to be working on 2019 pretty early”, said Tsurusaki.

“So the fact we’ve had the chance to work with the Honda guys again, get comfortable with them, get things rolling, get testing going and then start working on the single cylinder already with the full V6 durability tests now, it is exactly where we want to be”, he added. “We are pretty excited”, he stated. “We are in a good position and think they have the right fuel and the right lubricants ready for 2019.”

He also added, that the relationship with Honda is going to be a plus point in the next season. “In the case of previous engine manufacturers, we weren’t necessarily the priority to test. So in this case we are not only the priority, we are the only ones. It is the best scenario”, he said.

“There were some comments earlier in the season about what is the best way to have fuel and oil suppliers for manufacturers, and it is true that if you are dedicated, which means one fuel and oil supplier, then you are minimizing the duplicated testing time”, sait Tsurusaki.

“I think we are already seeing the rewards of the quick response we can have. It means if we get the data we can adjust from there. And when you are doing that in weeks versus months it makes a big difference.”