Eric Boullier: 'Yasuhisa Arai exit was long-term plan'

Yasuhisa Arai's departure from Honda's Formula 1 project earlier this week was not as sudden as it may have appeared, McLaren have claimed.

It has been rumoured that McLaren chiefs Eric Boullier and Ron Dennis pressed for his departure, but the official version is that he is simply set to 'retire'.

"Arai-san's 60th birthday and Honda's pension policy is that when you turn 60, you retire," Boullier is quoted by Finland's MTV as saying.

"It was a long-term plan that he would retire."

However, Honda's apparent 'long-term plan' appeared not to square with comments made by Arai's successor, Yusuke Hasegawa, as he said: "I did not expect that I would be joining the team.

"Last year I followed the F1 project by watching the races on TV."

After a promising start, McLaren-Honda had a poor day as the first Barcelona test ended on Thursday, with Fernando Alonso "disappointed" to do just three laps.

The Anglo-Japanese collaboration will return to action on Friday and Saturday, having booked the Circuit de Catalunya for exclusive 'filming' runs.