Honda Motor Co., Ltd. today announced its decision to supply power units to the Sauber F1 Team as a customer starting from the 2018 season of the FIA* Formula One World Championship (F1).
Through this supply agreement, which had been under discussion since Sauber made an initial proposal, Honda will further accelerate its pursuit of energy management technologies and improvement of the competitive strength of its power unit.
*Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile
Katsuhide Moriyama, Chief Officer, Brand and Communication Operations,Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
“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. 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.”
Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal, Sauber F1 Team
“It is a great honor 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 technical 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 as technical perspective. We thank Honda for making this great partnership happen.”