Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Honda unsure over second team

Honda will not actively seek a second team to supply power units to in 2016 as it focuses on its relationship with McLaren.

With Honda returning as power unit supplier this year - rekindling an iconic partnership with McLaren - pre-season has been tough with the MP4-30 completing limited mileage. Asked during an exclusive interview with F1i if supplying a second team this year would have helped Honda progress more quickly, motorsport chief Yasuhisa Arai replied: “We don’t have any offers from any team to be a second team.

"Maybe it’s because they think there’s something a bit mysterious about Honda. They don’t know our base capabilities, but [Friday] it showed them a little bit of our good capability and good feeling. Before that they don’t know, maybe they whisper about ‘that mysterious Honda’.”

And Arai explained that Honda would not seek out a second team to supply next year as he is unsure the engine manufacturer could prepare properly in time.

“If someone comes to us … but it’s a very difficult question because I am wondering can we prepare for supplying a second team during the season? I don’t know. We concentrate on this season with McLaren as one team.”

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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.