Honda to power Sauber in 2018

Sauber has confirmed that Japanese manufacturer Honda will supply them with engines for the 2017 season onwards, ending an eight-year relationship with Ferrari.

Honda re-entered the sport in 2015 as an engine supplier to McLaren in a bid to revive the results of the late 80's, when McLaren drove with Honda power. However, the relationship has been a disaster and has spiralled even further downward this year, with speed and unreliability being major issues.

Honda was recommended to look for another team to supply to gather more data for their struggling units, and speculation has been roaming for weeks that Sauber and Honda will team up for 2018. This morning, Monisha Kaltenborn confirmed the deal.

"It is a great honour for the Sauber F1 Team to be able to work together with Honda in the coming seasons. Our realignment is not just visible through the new ownership but also now with our new technological partnership with Honda. We have set another milestone with this new engine era, which we await with huge excitement and of course we are looking for new opportunities.

"We very much look forward to our partnership with Honda, which sets the course for a successful future – from a strategic as well as from a technological perspective. We thank Honda for making this great partnership happen."

Sauber is running Ferrari's 2016 engine in this year's car which could come with some major power and speed differences at the back stretch of this year's championship. They will return with up-to-date power for next year, with Honda hoping to improve on the situation they currently find themselves in.

"In addition to the partnership with McLaren which began in 2015, Honda will begin supplying power units to Sauber as a customer team starting from next year," Katsuhide Moriyama, Chief Officer of Brand and Communication Operations at Honda said.

"This will be a new challenge in Honda’s F1 activities. In order to leverage the benefits of supplying to two teams to the maximum extent, we will strengthen the systems and capabilities of both of our two development operations, namely HRD Sakura and the operation in Milton Keynes. We will continue our challenges so that our fans will enjoy seeing a Honda with dominant strength as soon as possible."