Honda covers the cards: that’s why some images of the power unit are blurry

A crucial part of the engine was wisely hidden. Honda presented the RA626H in Tokyo, the new power unit that will exclusively equip the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. Adrian Newey therefore, after his long experience in Red Bull, has found in Honda an element of continuity in his new adventure in Aston Martin. The Japanese giant displayed the power unit on stage, but the positioning was artfully studied just as other images published on social media were wisely blurred at a crucial point. The reason is very simple, not giving opponents very important information on some delicate choices made by Honda during the design phase. “Honda showed the engine from a single angle on stage and made available only one photo taken from the same angle in the official media images, showing one side including the combustion engine housing, exhaust primaries, two chimneys and the basic structure of a visually impressive design – reads the-race.com newspaper – other shots however have the lower assembly blurred because that is precisely where important integration details where the mounting and housing could be visible of the MGU-K become more evident. The placement of key elements, cable routing and cooling choices are more important differentiators than just the overall shapes of the engine.” Honda therefore proudly presented the new power unit, but it also ‘hid’ what it had to keep hidden so as not to reveal all the ‘secrets’ of the RA626H to its adversaries.