Honda quits Sauber engine deal?

Honda reportedly reneges on its promise to supply Sauber with customer engines next year.

Honda has reportedly reneged on its promise to supply Sauber with customer engines next year.

The claim, carried by Germany's Auto Bild, fuels speculation that the hapless Japanese manufacturer could be about to quit Formula 1 altogether.

The news coincides with speculation that McLaren have looked into dropping their works Honda deal in order to switch to a customer engine supplied by Mercedes, Renault or even Ferrari.

Yet another victim looks set to be the small Swiss team Sauber, with the report saying that the end of the Honda deal leaves them with "no engine" for 2018.

"Honda has dissolved the contract," said the report.

Another reason for the Sauber-Honda split could be that the deal was brokered by Monisha Kaltenborn, who has since been ousted by the Swiss team's new owners.

Since then, rumours of continuing ructions at Sauber have swirled.

Swiss newspaper Blick reported that Beat Zehnder could be named the new team boss, but in fact Sauber announced on Wednesday that the deal with former Renault chief Frederic Vasseur has finally been done.

Pascal Wehrlein of Germany and Manor poses for a portrait during day one of F1 winter testing at Circuit de Catalunya on March 1, 2016
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TeamPoints
1Mercedes287
2Ferrari254
3Red Bull152
4Force India89
5Williams-Mercedes40
6Toro Rosso33
7Haas29
8Renault18
9Sauber5
10McLaren2
DriversTeamPoints
1Sebastian VettelFerrari171
2Lewis HamiltonMercedes151
3Valtteri BottasMercedes136
4Daniel RicciardoRed Bull107
5Kimi RaikkonenFerrari83
6Sergio PerezForce India50
7Max VerstappenRed Bull45
8Esteban OconForce India39
9Carlos SainzToro Rosso29
10Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes22
11Romain GrosjeanHaas18
12Nico HulkenbergRenault18
13Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes18
14Kevin MagnussenHaas11
15Pascal WehrleinSauber5
16Daniil KvyatToro Rosso4
17Fernando AlonsoMcLaren2
18Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren0
19Jolyon PalmerRenault0
20Marcus EricssonSauber0
21Antonio GiovinazziSauber0
22Jenson ButtonMcLaren0