Tom Coronel has a special bond with Japan. He lived in the land of the rising sun for several years and knows Japanese culture like no other. Despite Honda’s current problems as a motor supplier for the F1 team Aston Martin, he is counting on a strong comeback, sooner or later, as he writes in his column in FORMULE 1 Magazine. “Believe me, in the factories people volunteer to work overtime.”
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Tom Coronel’s full column can be read in the latest edition of FORMULE 1 Magazine. Read a short excerpt from the column below.
“We know that Honda hasn’t managed it yet. The test days said enough about that. But we also know that Honda will manage it sooner or later. That is the survival instinct of the Japanese. They keep going until they have won. They did that with Max Verstappen and Red Bull too, of course. Don’t forget, before that they also had difficult years as a motor supplier for McLaren and Toro Rosso.
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For Fernando Alonso, this is a serious blow, this season was his chance at his last trick. But for Honda, giving up is not an option. Waging war, laying off people, none of that makes sense. They know by now what is right and wrong and they are going to tackle it with all their energy. Believe me, in the factories people volunteer to work overtime. And in Japan they really understand the game, they have been working with hybrid systems for a long time. It’s no coincidence that the first electric cars came from Japan. Now something went wrong in the process and the chain always breaks at the weakest link, but they will definitely come out on top. One hundred percent.”
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