Honda wins Formula 1 engine battle with FIA

McLaren's new engine partner Honda has won its fight to be allowed to develop its engine during 2015.

Formula 1's governing body the FIA has backtracked on an earlier ruling that allowed Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari to upgrade their engines but not Honda.

The move comes after Honda expressed its unhappiness about what it considered to be an unfair situation. Honda will now be allowed to develop its brand new engine within limits explicitly laid out by the FIA.

Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari are allowed to change up to 48% of the engines they used in 2014 by the end of the 2015 season.
This is defined by a number of 'tokens', which are assigned to parts of the engine on the basis of their influence on performance.
Out of a total of 66 tokens, Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari can modify 32 through 2015.
Previously Honda had been barred from changing any of its engine after it was approved for competition on 28 February.

Friday's ruling will allow Honda to change a given amount of its engine calculated by the average of the number of tokens unused by the other manufacturers by the time of the first race in Australia on 16 March.
In the example given by FIA race director Charlie Whiting, and seen by BBC Sport, he writes: "If the three 2014 manufacturers have eight, seven and five unused tokens respectively at the start of the season, then the new manufacturer will be allowed to use six during the season (the average rounded down to the nearest whole number)".

Link to full article; http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/30860212

Call me crazy but considering how long Honda have been working on this PU, they could be the closest challengers to Mercedes next season. Especially with their driver line up