Red Bull Racing boss Helmut Marko announced on January 28 that Honda will provide both Red Bull Racing and Alpha Tauri with engines from Japan until the end of 2025.
After the end of the 2021 season, Honda initially announced leaving Formula One. When Honda made the announcement, Red Bull Racing had to convince F1 to freeze powertrain development while they find a new technical partner.
In February last year, teams agreed to prevent further development of their hybrid power units. According to Red Bull Racing and Alpha Tauri, without the engine freeze, there is a change that they’d consider their future in F1. Both teams announced that they are unwilling to get a different engine or be racing with a disadvantage as rivals get to upgrade their power units.
F1 released a statement that “engine development will be frozen from the start of 2022”.
Now that Honda is back in F1, does it play to Red Bull’s advantage?
Freezing Power Unit Development
The original plan was for Red Bull Racing to use Honda’s intellectual property with their power unit. However, Honda was just going to provide power units for Red Bull for both 2022 and 2023. After which, Red Bull will have to rely on their newly formed Red Bull Powertrains division. Plus, Honda’s involvement was supposedly limited to just trackside and race operation support.
This deal would’ve helped Red Bull to transition from an engine customer to an engine manufacturer. But with the recent announcement that Honda will stay in F1 and continue providing power units until 2025, Red Bull Racing can have a breather.
Marko said that Max Verstappen’s victory may have convinced Honda to stay. He added, “In the course of our ever-greater success, a certain rethinking has taken place among the Japanese. And also that they could of course use the battery knowledge for their electrification phase”.
Focusing on Promoting Carbon Neutrality
Honda initially wanted to quit F1 because the firm wanted to focus on developing technology that promotes carbon neutrality. In April 2020, Honda even built the Innovative Research Excellence, Power Unit & Energy.
According to their website, “Honda will allocate its energy management and fuel technologies as well as knowledge amassed through F1 activities to this area of power unit and energy technologies and take initiatives while focusing on the future realization of carbon neutrality. Toward this end, Honda made the decision to conclude its participation in F1”.
Marko said, “It was initially planned that they would only make our motor for 2022. Now it has been decided that this will continue until 2025, which is, of course, a huge advantage for us.” He said, “This means we only have to make fine adjustments and calibrations”.
Honda staying with F1 looks like an equalizer for the Red Bull Racing team as they expect to continue their rivalry with Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1.
Honda’s decision can also give Red Bull an advantage by 2026 when new rules are introduced. By 2026, Red Bull Racing will be considered as a new engine manufacturer and will get to enjoy privileges during the development stage of F1 engines. They can get more hours on dynos while other manufacturers such as Mercedes, Renault, and Ferrari are not going to get these perks.
