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Pluses and minuses to Honda's late arrival - Renault

The 2014 engines are a big change from last year's V8s © Renault

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Honda's decision to return to the sport in 2015, one year after this year's new engine regulations have taken hold, comes with positives and negatives, according to rival manufacturer Renault.

This season will see the start of a new era of Formula One engines, with V6 turbos and more powerful Energy Recovery Systems replacing the outgoing V8s. Renault, Ferrari and Mercedes will supply the grid this year, with Honda joining McLaren with a works deal in 2015.

Renault's head of track operations, Remi Taffin, believes there are positives to joining a year later because it allows focus to remain solely on 2015 without the distraction of troubleshooting the 2014 engine.

"One could argue it's a good advantage and one could argue it's not," he said. "You have one more year to study your engine and maybe you could end up with a 2015 engine that is much more developed, but at the same time we are going to be developing the engine for 2015 - we are already working on 2015 - and it's very similar.

"It's just a matter of resources because they don't have to focus on 2014 and they are fully focused on '15. This could be an advantage because they put all their resources, money and people on '15 whereas we have to share."

However, Taffin said there is no substitute for running the engines on track.

"They will not have a car running and I can't see that not being detrimental," he added. "Even if you have the best of everything back at the factory, it's always on the car where you validate everything you have been studying through the winter and over the last three or four years."

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