McLaren needed Honda split - Brawn

McLaren did the right thing by dumping its works supply of Honda engines after 2017, according to F1 sporting boss Ross Brawn.

Brawn was actually team boss at Honda’s works team well over a decade ago, but he says "clever people" at McLaren concluded that the ill-fated collaboration had to stop.

"They have some clever people there but it took a while for them to realise," he told motorsport-total.com when asked about McLaren’s decision to split with Honda.

"People always think they made a big mistake in parting with Honda, but funnily enough, I think they almost needed it to figure out what to do with the team.

"They blamed Honda all the time but now they realise it wasn’t true," said Brawn.

Indeed, since Honda left McLaren, the Japanese engine manufacturer began to thrive in collaboration with Red Bull’s two teams.

Brawn said of McLaren: "By getting rid of Honda, they realised they had to do something with the team.

"I’m not sure if they would have come to that conclusion if they hadn’t put an engine in the back that other teams have used as well.

"Once they did they realised that they had to make some big changes. And I think they did. They took a very positive step," he added.