McLaren justifies Red Bull/Honda deal veto: "We are not a charity"
McLaren has made clear there is no change in its stance of not wanting Honda to supply engines to Red Bull next year – insisting that it is not a "charity".
Honda motorsport boss Yasuhisa Arai suggested in Mexico on Friday that discussions with Red Bull were "ongoing" about opening up a customer supply deal for the team.
It comes after Bernie Ecclestone revealed at the United States Grand Prix that a Honda deal for Red Bull was being blocked by Ron Dennis through a veto the team has on such a plan.
When asked by Motorsport.com about McLaren's position, racing director Eric Boullier said: “As a partner, I will repeat myself, we have to agree on the strategy.
“This is not a question of saying Ron says 'no', and Arai-San says 'yes'. There is no debate on this.
"Clearly there is an issue at Red Bull, which was created by Red Bull, and not by anybody else. We are not a charity foundation, so we are not here to help.
“We are not going into this kind of debate. Today there are discussions, but I think the position of McLaren-Honda has been clear.”
FIA president Jean Todt has said that the governing body will do what it can to help keep Red Bull in F1, but it is unclear what can be done.
Although Honda had an agreement with the FIA and FOM to supply two teams in 2016, it is understood to have been superseded by the McLaren deal that laid out the veto.
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