Honda expands facilities to supply another team
Closely linked to McLaren since its return to Formula 1, engine manufacturer Honda is considering equipping another team by the end of 2017, expanding its facilities at its British base in Milton Keynes.
Yusuke Hasegawa, the director of Honda in Formula 1, no longer hides his ambitions to power a team other than McLaren in the near future.
To achieve this, the Japanese manufacturer has undertaken the expansion of its capabilities at its British base in Milton Keynes to have the necessary resources to produce power units for a second team: « We do not have enough space to provide resources to another team, but we need to be this type of manufacturer. We need to prepare other resources and organizations »
The target for 2018 is clearly set by Honda: « Maybe at the end of next year, we will be able to say that we are in a position to prepare another engine for a new team, so we are establishing this organization. We have already built a larger factory in Milton Keynes. It’s not huge, but it’s already bigger. »
Human resources will also need to expand because the entire Honda Formula 1 team is currently devoted to McLaren. And it’s known that the British team recently vetoed any potential sharing of its engine supplier’s resources: “If we decide to prepare a second engine for a second team, we will just have to hire more people, engineers. We have plenty of empty offices for them!” concluded Hasegawa, enthusiastically.
