Honda thinks that Toro Rosso could be a better fit for the Japanese marque than McLaren.
After the split was announced in Singapore, Honda's senior Formula 1 chief Masashi Yamamoto said that he would have preferred to keep racing with McLaren next year.
Yamamoto said that a lack of performance and reliability "created tension between us" and led to the split.
However, Honda will race on next year with Toro Rosso, Red Bull's junior team.
"The regulations go on until 2020 so we still have three years and we want to show our improvements in the technology," said Yamamoto.
Rather than see it as a step down in the paddock, Yamamoto thinks that Toro Rosso could even be better for Honda than McLaren was.
"First Mr [Franz] Tost knows a lot about Japan. He understands the culture and it's a good communication that we have," said the Japanese.
"Working with McLaren, I've realised that they are a very big company which is very systematic. It's obviously very strong because of that but at the same time they can find it hard to adapt to change.
"Compare that to Toro Rosso, it is a company that is growing.
"Take this for an example: if we compare both teams with different cuisines, let's say McLaren is a very sophisticated French cuisine - that's the way it is.
"Toro Rosso is more like a countryside, homemade delicious stew where you can add new ingredients. We're excited to do that."
The 2017 championship continues next weekend with the Malaysian Grand Prix.
