Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsHonda

Supplying Toro Rosso ‘very difficult’ for Honda

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Honda motorsport boss Yasuhisa Arai says it would be “very difficult” to try and supply Toro Rosso with power units in 2016.

With Red Bull threatening to quit F1 amid difficulties receiving a competitive power unit next season having ended its Renault partnership a year early. After Mercedes ruled out supplying Red Bull, Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost told F1i the most likely deal for both teams is with Ferrari but fears time is running out.

A switch to Honda for Toro Rosso could make it easier for Red Bull to secure Ferrari engines as it would mean one less team for the Italian manufacturer to supply, but Tost warned an uncompetitive year could hurt Toro Rosso sponsorship deals.

Speaking through a translator, when asked about the possibility of supplying Toro Rosso, Arai told F1i Honda has to think about improving its own performance before taking on further deals.

“It is difficult for [Toro Rosso] to come to us … It is difficult, looking at the maturity of the power unit it is very difficult. We have to put ourselves in the right place first.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.