Honda dominance in last month's Fuji SFormula round has put the topic of engine disparity back on the agenda after 18 months of relative equality against Toyota:
For the last all-Honda top four, you have to go back a race further to the 2021 season finale at Suzuka, which capped off an utterly dominant season for the Sakura marque.
One driver who should know about the differences between Honda and Toyota engines is Ukyo Sasahara, who crossed the floor to join Toyota last winter after losing his Team Mugen drive to Lawson. He was back on the grid last month at Fuji for his new team TOM’S after getting the call-up to replace Giuliano Alesi for the second half of the season.
That became a much bigger issue in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic prompted Super Formula to shorten races and scrap refuelling, making qualifying a far more important component of the weekend. But it wasn’t until 2021 that matters became so acute that it felt like the Toyota runners had no chance against the Hondas, except in the wet.
“Even if the Honda cars are taking turns at low speed, the loss is comparatively small, and if the driver can stay in the proper power band, they are very fast. That’s how it feels.”One thing that appeared to help level the playing field somewhat in 2022 was the expansion of the calendar from seven races to 10.