Sauber F1 Team confirms, ahead of the Russian Grand Prix, a deal with Honda as its new technological partner from 2018. This extensive strategic and technological realignment creates a new basis for the Swiss team, who will now drop its long-term partnership with Ferrari.
The new partnership will certainly unveil future opportunities for the Sauber F1 Team and Honda, and constitutes a cornerstone for the team's F1 future.
“It is a great honor for the Sauber F1 Team to be able to work together with Honda in the coming seasons", says Sauber's CEO and Team Principal Monisha Kaltenborn.
"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.”
According to Honda, they will also continue the partnership with Mclaren.
“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", says Katsuhide Moriyama, Chief Officer, Brand and Communication Operations, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
"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.”
