Honda and Toro Rosso will have an "equal partnership" according to Honda motorsport boss Yusuke Hasegawa, who admitted the Japanese manufacturer was somewhat led by McLaren's decisions.
With Honda splitting from McLaren and partnering Toro Rosso in 2018, Hasegawa is looking to take a more proactive approach, rather than allowing their new partner to dictate the direction they take.
"We’ve been the ones making the majority of requests so far, but it’s fair to say this will be a more equal partnership than it was with McLaren in terms of leadership. And that’s not just because of the size of the team," he told the official Honda F1 website.
"Obviously Honda as a company is huge but we had little recent F1 experience – so from that point of view McLaren was still leading us. That won’t be the same with Toro Rosso."
Hasegawa insists the split can be viewed as a positive for Honda as it gives them a fresh perspective and a new start to gain a better understanding of the sport in which they've struggled for the past three seasons since their return.
“We only know things as the McLaren-Honda way, but this will be another opportunity to expand our understanding and experience of a different way of working.
“I think we needed the change. From a technical point of view it’s good for us to know more about other things, like new cooling situations or how the top speed of a different car design is affected by drag. It is very important to understand what the standard is.
“Toro Rosso is also a very good team and they are very open with us," he added. "Compared to their position – in terms of size and resources – they are actually very competitive."
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