Honda Hybrids Have an Image Problem and it's Marketings Fault

When it was announced last year that Honda would be re-joining forces with McLarenThe Honda suffers from a lack of power, both from the V6 Turbo as well as a finicky battery pack. Adding to their woes McLaren has built a dog of a chassis and the software is a mess.Honda has spent all their Formula 1 engine development tokens in hopes of at least matching the Renault power unit,, and despite all the sound and fury from the factory both Jensen Button and Fernando Alonso found themselves helpless at Suzuka over the weekend.So much so that Alonso had an extremely public outburst over team radio mid-race after getting passed in succession by the Toro Rosso's and Saubers. Alonso complained the lack of pace from the V6-Hybrid was embarrassing and then later went on to call their engine "GP2" spec. Ouch, especially with Honda CEO Hachigo-san present at Hondas home track.It is an interesting parallel, the NSX was never going to be a hybrid untilThe Honda engine would always be at a disadvantage being a year late in development and testing vs the other power units in the field.A strange place for Honda, they're scrambling to develop technologies and struggling to meet self imposed deadlines.