Ask Gary Anderson: What can Honda achieve?

What do you make of McLaren-Honda, even with its limited laps at Jerez?
Parminder Sidhu, via Twitter

The car looks like a neat package and I believe it should be a step ahead of where McLaren ended up last season. Remember, it was the arguably the third if not the fourth-best Mercedes-engined team and as the Mercedes was the best power unit of the season that doesn't say too much for the chassis.

Formula 1 is now all about the power unit and until that is up and running correctly we won't have a clue.

McLaren has got into bed with Honda and rightly so for its long-term future. But to get all this working correctly the short-term may suffer.

What's the most innovative piece of technology you've seen on a 2015 car so far?
@CassisDrinker, via Twitter

I'm sorry to say that the days of the ground effect Lotus, the Brabham fan car or the Tyrrell six-wheeler are long gone.

The way the regulations have unfolded over the last few years makes it difficult to pick up on innovation.

Innovation is now about finding solutions to do things more efficiently and I am afraid most of that is under the skin on these cars and not for public viewing.

What's the aerodynamic difference between McLaren's nose and the Mercedes nose?
Yenti van Lancker, via Twitter

Very little. The way the regulations are written, the difference between one concept and another is now very small. That said, it depends on what is happening downstream.

If the leading edge of the sidepods or the sidepod undercut is matched to the wake of a front-wing assembly then you can test as many nose configurations as you want but will see very little difference.

You have to start at the front because the airflow coming off the underside of the nose and the trailing edge of the front wing is what the rest of the car has to work with.

When you are developing a car you need to set your front wing and nose spec first and then work your way down through the car, optimising everything on the way.

When you have got the best from that, you start the process all over again. That's why the teams with the most money and the most people should always win, but if the small guy luckily gets it right then who knows what could happen.

Ferrari says it will keep as many engine tokens as possible for in-season development. Do you think this strategy will work?
@eggry, via Twitter

Ferrari has obviously made some improvements over the winter. The engine at the first test at least looked better than last year so I think it is just hoping that what it has done will tide it over for the start of the season.

Doing this will allow Ferrari to see how everyone else has developed and what direction they have all taken and that will give it a hint for the next step.

You also need to remember these engine tokens have even more value than the money it would take to change the engine spec, at least for Ferrari.

With money once you spend it you can just go out and try to find some more; you can't do that with these engine tokens. Once they are spent they are gone, so keeping a few for a rainy day might not be a bad idea.

F1 is dull compared to other forms of racing. What three things would you change to add excitement?
@LesRosbifs, via Twitter

As far as the cars are concerned, I would reduce the aerodynamics by at least 50 per cent, increase the tyre size (especially the rears) and increase the potential power output by removing the fuel flow valve.

On track, I would have a qualifying session as we have now on Saturday. After that is all done I would have a Saturday sprint race, shorter than we currently have - say, 150 kilometres - with the grid set from the qualifying order.

During this race there would only be six people allowed from each team in the pitlane: this is to increase the length of time for pitstops or even remove them all together.

Points would be allocated for this, perhaps on the old 10-points-for-a-win system.

On Sunday I would have a 250-kilometre race but with the grid set by the drivers' championship in reverse order. Same points as currently distributed (25 for a win etc).

All this would mean the cars would be harder to drive, qualifying would be important, looking after the tyres would be a factor and being able to overtake would be critical.

Add it all together and I am positive that with a bit of sorting it would be much more exciting and give spectators two days of real action.

Drivers and Pirelli have both talked about improving the wet-weather tyres. Can they make significant improvement?
Mark Lovas, via Twitter

Mark, there are always improvements that can be made in all of the tyres. The intermediates don't seem to have many problems, but it is the full-wet tyres that seem to be behind.

To improve these is a tough task for Pirelli because the minute there is any heavy rain the teams want to park the cars in the garage.

Looking at a 1m40s dry laptime, if the track is evenly wet across its length you want to be using wet tyres until you get down to about a 2m00s laptime, or around 20 per cent slower.

Then, it is time to fit the intermediates, which should immediately be able to do the same laptime and then as the track dries, the laptime should come down to a 1m50s. At that point, you fit slicks.

The tyre-surface groove percentage is defined in the regulations and I think Pirelli needs the opportunity to play with this, as well as the tread stiffness, to achieve the above crossover points.

If all of the teams (apart from Mercedes) came trying to hire you today which one would you like to work for? And why?
Dermot Farrelly, via Facebook

Dermot, first of all I am officially retired so my answer is only hypothetical!

I am still a small-team man. I never saw any satisfaction in working for the oil tankers that are the big teams with 600-800 people.

The teams that are struggling are the ones that I would like to try to help if I could. I always felt there was nothing as satisfying as beating the big boys.