We arrived at the end of the 2017 season and added another chapter to the breakup between Mclaren and Honda. Yusuke Hasegawa will not continue leading the Honda project in Formula 1. Hasegawa will not leave the company, he will hold a new position as chief executive engineer. The Japanese brand prepares an internal reform of his personnel dedicated to Formula 1. To replace Hasegawa Honda has chosen two people. Toyoharu Tanabe will be Hasegawa’s substitute in the races and test on the circuits, he will be the technical director, because Honda has decided to eliminate the position of head of the Formula 1 project. Tanabe has a lot of experience in this competition. He works with Honda since 1984, he was Jenson Button’s chief engineer at the time when Honda was with the British American Racing team between 2003 and 2007, he was also Gerhard Berger’s engineer at Mclaren between 1990 and 1992. While Yasuaki Asaki will be the Chief of Operations at Sakura, overseeing the development of the engine. In this way Honda is prepared for the next season with the Toro Rosso team. Hopefully this new project will achieve better results than the previous one with the Mclaren team.
The one who does not leave his post is Jean Todt. After replacing Max Mosley from October 2009 as president of the International Automobile Federation, he will continue in his post after being re-elected at the General Assembly of this organization in Paris and will continue to lead until the year 2021. After no other candidate was available, the Frenchman is preparing for his third and last term as leader of the organization. Since according to the regulations he can not be in the position more than twelve years. Jean Todt was also re-elected with the support of all the members of the FIA. The former CEO of Ferrari F1 who has suffered numerous criticisms after focusing his attention on road safety, but despite the criticism has not had problems to be re-elected.