Ahead of Honda’s tie-up with Red Bull for 2019, the car manufacturer is pushing as hard as it can to make the gains that it needs if it wants to win races.

Now, having worked with IHI since it returned to F1 in 2015, it has agreed a proper technology partnership to accelerate improvements.

Katsuhide Moriyama, chief officer of brand and communications at Honda, said: “We expect this partnership to produce a notable step up in performance. Together, we will keep pushing to fight for wins.”

IHI is one of the class leaders in rotating machinery technology, which it has developed through its shipbuilding and steam turbine business.

The deal will last for two years and the first parts from the new co-operation will arrive as part of Honda’s 2019 power unit.

Yoshinori Kawasaki, from IHI said: “Through this new technical partnership, our aim is for the Honda PU to deliver the best possible performance, by accelerating development of the turbocharger.

“We hope that as from the 2019 season, Honda’s power unit, using the IHI turbocharger, will deliver the sort of performance that thrilled motor sport fans back in the 80s and 90s.”