Day old news at this point. But restructuring at Honda continues...
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/h...ul-986597/amp/
So Hasegawa is out and his role is being split between two people. One for race operations (Toyoharu Tanabe) and another for engine development (Yasuaki Asaki).
Some comments I have read elsewhere...
* Writing has probably been on the wall for a long time with respect to Hasegawa
* Trying to handle both race/tech plus running the engine program is probably too much for a single person. He probably had to spend a good bit of time going back and forth between Milton Keynes and Sakura. Especially if it is not going well. So a split in the responsibilities is probably a good thing. I assume one will be based in Milton Keynes (Tanabe) and the other (Asaki) at Sakura. Each focusing on their part and not traveling so much.
* Hasegawa likely also burnt out given the pressure.
* Likely a good bit of unhappy folks at Honda in that Hasegawa absorbed many hits that should have been taken by McLaren. Reading elsewhere that Honda insiders say while Honda didn't perform as they should (particularly with respect to the MGU-H design), a number of other issues were also caused by McLaren (installation issues, McLaren parts that failed, etc.) Finger was not pointed at McLaren for those failures, while McLaren had no problem pointing fingers at Honda. Maybe Tanabe will stand up more for Honda?
Should be an interesting 2018 season.
Richard