Honda will only supply McLaren next season

(Honda Motor Company)

 

The Honda Motor Company will only supply the McLaren team next season according to their boss Yasuhisa Arai.

 

Speaking during Friday's team principal press conference Arai said:

 

'So for year 2015, McLaren is our only customer.'

 

He said that the company don't want to think about what will happen in the future and that they are fully focussed on preparing for their F1 return next season.

 

The Japanese manufacturer is developing an engine facility in Milton Keynes and Mr Arai confirmed that the factory will open in June and is currently still under construction but once it is operational the facility will be responsible for preparing McLaren's race engines and maintenance of the power units. He also confirmed that the company will provide a 'Trackside operations team' just as Renault, Ferrari and Mercedes do to their customers.

 

Honda's preparations for their return to F1 and have been working closely with McLaren for some time. The company fired up their 2015 engine in October of last year and are not worried by entering the sport a year after the introduction of the new engine formula and actually feel that leaving it later to come back into F1 could prove to be beneficial for the manufacturer.

 

McLaren and Honda will be hoping that by reuniting they will be in a position to recreate the success the two company's had together during the late 1980's.

 

©Ben Johnston 2014