Sauber "open to anything" in Honda relationship

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Honda, which will supply engines to Sauber next year, has the potential to do more with the Swiss squad than has been the case with McLaren, where the deal is in essence limited to the supply of the power unit.

One possible example of technical co-operation could be Honda contributing to chassis R&D in Japan – something it did with its own works team until its withdrawal at the end of 2008 – and using that process to train its engineers, as it always does with F1 engine development.

Honda could also take advantage of Sauber's Hinwil facility, which was upgraded to a high standard in the BMW era, and includes a highly regarded wind tunnel.

"We'll see how it all pans put," Kaltenborn told Motorsport.com. "We're really at the beginning now. I don't know their deals with McLaren.

"We are a very different project. We'll see where we can benefit from each other in this. We've been in situations where we were a manufacturer team – we're not a manufacturer team now, we're a customer to them.

"But we know that there are a lot of opportunities there, and this is one of the reasons why we decided for this partnership. It's far too early to say we'll be doing this and that, but yes, we're open to anything."

Honda also now has the chance to direct a Japanese driver towards Sauber, such as its protege and F2 racer Nobuharu Matsushita, in much the same way that Satoru Nakajima was placed at Lotus in 1988, or Takuma Sato at Jordan in 2002.

Kaltenborn, who employed current Toyota WEC racer Kamui Kobayashi in 2010-12, admits that the team is open to such a possibility.

"Like it always is in these cases, when you have a partner like this, whatever decisions you take, you discuss it with the partner," she said.

"We have done it no differently in the past, by the way. You listen to their opinions, you take advice.

"In the end it's the team responsibility. We are actually the team that has the last podium finish with a Japanese driver, and it was also in Japan! So that puts us in a very unique situation."