Why M. Vasseur didn't go ahead with Honda power:
Makes Sense
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Quote:
Frederic Vasseur cancelled Sauber's 2018 Honda Formula 1 engine deal within an hour of starting as the team's new boss last summer.
Sauber had agreed to become Honda's second F1 team under the leadership of Vasseur's predecessor Monisha Kaltenborn, but Vasseur was concerned by McLaren's struggles with the Japanese manufacturer and wanted Sauber to increase its collaboration with Ferrari instead.
"I joined on July 17 at 9am, and the meeting [about Honda] was at 10am," Vasseur told Autosport.
"For me it was important. It is never easy to change the engine supplier first, but Honda was not in very good shape.
"Plus, and probably most important for me, we were linked to McLaren for the gearbox with absolutely no internal resources to do our own one.
"I was convinced, as I had some contacts at McLaren, that they would do their best to leave [Honda]. So I could not be in a position to risk that.
"Imagine today if I had to request the Honda gearbox from McLaren? It would be an absolute nightmare.
"Being in the process of working on our 2018 car, we were not able to postpone the decision."
Sauber subsequently agreed a new deal with Ferrari that upgraded it to current-specification engines after a season running year-old designs.
It then enhanced that partnership by gaining Ferrari's sister brand Alfa Romeo as its title sponsor and signing Ferrari's Formula 2 champion protege Charles Leclerc for its second 2018 race seat alongside Marcus Ericsson.
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Sounds like the previous administration at Sauber hadn't thought it all the way through. Seems that the Alfa option is a safer bet, Honda would have been a huge gamble for Sauber.