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Sauber-Honda deal on the verge of completion

Published on 14 Apr 2017 10:29
5
By: Fergal Walsh

Sauber and Honda are close to signing a deal which would see them partner up for the 2018 season. The Japan firm currently give power units to McLaren only but are very interested in supplying units to other teams.

Sauber is looking set to sign a deal confirming they will receive Honda power for next year, as they are currently running with year old Ferrari engines.

Interestingly, McLaren has an option to veto any move Honda wish to make in terms of giving power units to another team. However, with Ron Dennis not around, this is unlikely to happen.

"For years, Ron Dennis prevented Honda from working with another team," a source close to Honda told Speed Week. "But Ron is no longer there."

However, Sauber is denying that a decision to go with Honda for 2018 is imminent: "We are negotiating with several manufacturers," the Hinwil based team said.

Honda giving engines to another team would be massively beneficial for them, as it would double the data they are currently receiving from McLaren and perhaps allow them to make inroads on their rivals.

Secondly, it is known that Honda is looking for a route into F1 for its junior drivers Nobuharu Matsushita and Tadasuke Makino: "There is no room for a Japanese in 2018," a source told Speed Week. "But if Tadasuke does a good F3 season, he will do Formula 2 in 2018 and in an ideal world be in F1 by 2019-2020.

"This would also fit with the timing with Pascal Wehrlein, who by 2019 will either go to Mercedes or be pushed to a Mercedes customer team like Williams."

Fergal Walsh

f1fan0101

Posts: 1,804

They'll charge them alright, but it'll be much cheaper than Fer,Merc or Ren

1
Apr 14 2017 - 11:54

F1 News Pascal Wehrlein Nobuharu Matsushita Jake Dennis Williams McLaren Ferrari Mercedes Sauber Honda

Replies (5)

f1fan0101

Posts: 1,804
It would be great for honda
- + 0
- Apr 14 2017 - 11:20
- ENDR
  
  Posts: 43
  Yeah, two more testbeds mean more data and a better chance of finishing a race.
  However, I wonder how much they're going to charge Sauber for those engines - if they're going to charge them at all. After all, the 2016 Ferrari engines may be expensive, but they WORK and power-wise they're probably close to this year's Renault engines, so both Sauber drives have the means of scoring points, which means more prize money at the end of the season. If they do switch to Honda though and they stay at the current power and reliability level, not finishing races makes the team miss out on quite a lot of funds...
  + 0
  
  Apr 14 2017 - 11:36
- f1fan0101
  
  Posts: 1,804
  They'll charge them alright, but it'll be much cheaper than Fer,Merc or Ren
  + 1
  
  Apr 14 2017 - 11:54
Patentprutser

Posts: 392
Hope for Sauber that Honda will perform better then they did until now. They are already strugling with their bad aerodynamics, then they get engine troubles as well
- + 0
- Apr 14 2017 - 15:02
Twiinzspeed

Posts: 18
I think Sauber would be better off sticking with a reliable slightly slower engine than switching to a much less reliable and slower engine. They should ask for a very sweet deal considering the likelihood that doing so will pretty much guarantee they finish last.
- + 0
- Apr 14 2017 - 16:00