Willis unsure of his own future

As exclusively revealed by autosport.com, Willis is currently on gardening leave after Honda announced Shuhei Nakamoto had been promoted to the role of senior technical director.

The team said they are in discussions with Willis regarding his future role with the team.

Although Honda have made it clear they want Willis to stay involved with he team, the Briton said he still needed to talk to team chief Nick Fry to clarify his situation.

"Let's say that at the moment I'm on gardening leave, in other words I'm enjoying a period of rest. But I still have to talk to Nick Fry in order to define several things."

Although neither party has explained the exact reasons for Willis' departure, the Briton has denied his decision was motivated by Honda's decision to assign him to a more factory-based role.

"No, it's not because of that," Willis told Autosprint magazine. "In fact, since the Spanish GP two months ago, we had already taken the decision that I would not be present at every race this year.

"There has been a restructuring of the team staff and this has involved several people. But at the moment don't ask me to say anymore until I can make my position clear."

Despite showing promising form in pre-season testing, Honda have failed to match the pace of their rivals this year. The team are fourth in the constructors' standings, nearly 100 points behind leaders Renault.