Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
After having already announced the end of their involvement in Formula 1 by allowing Red Bull’s Powertrains division to take over engine manufacturing and support from them, Honda has now decided to stick around as the direct engine supplier for both Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri until the end of 2025.
The original plan was to cease full control of power units to Red Bull Powertrains (RBP) in 2022, with Honda only offering engineering support at the tracks – and for this season alone. Once RBP would have been up to speed, it would have then built the engines using Honda parts at their Milton Keynes facilities.
Now though, Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko has reportedly confirmed that the plan has changed and that Honda will stick around until the end of 2025, as per Autosport. The following year, in 2026, new powertrain regulations are set to come into effect.
Such a decision also removes any concerns about possible quality control issues that might arise from Red Bull moving power unit manufacturing to the UK, while also freeing up RBP to focus more on its 2026 project.
While details of this new arrangement have yet to be finalized, we expect Red Bull and AlphaTauri’s engines to continue to wear the Honda brand until 2025.
“The engines will be manufactured in Japan until 2025, we will not touch them at all,” said Marko during an interview with Autorevue magazine. “That means that the rights and all these things will remain with the Japanese, which is important for 2026 because it makes us newcomers.”
Fun fact: by coming in as a brand-new engine manufacturer in 2026, RBP would benefit from the concessions that are being discussed at this point, such as a higher power unit budget cap.
Marko went on to suggest that winning the 2021 Driver’s title has encouraged Honda to stay in Formula 1.
“In the course of our ever-greater successes, a certain rethinking has taken place among the Japanese. And also, that they could of course use the battery knowledge for their electrification phase.”
“It was initially planned that they would only make our motors for 2022. Now it has been decided that this will continue until 2025, which is of course a huge advantage for us. This means we only have to make fine adjustments and calibrations,” he concluded.
We expect this shocking turn of events to benefit Red Bull not only in the long run, but also in 2022 and all other following seasons until 2026.
Now though, Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko has reportedly confirmed that the plan has changed and that Honda will stick around until the end of 2025, as per Autosport. The following year, in 2026, new powertrain regulations are set to come into effect.
Such a decision also removes any concerns about possible quality control issues that might arise from Red Bull moving power unit manufacturing to the UK, while also freeing up RBP to focus more on its 2026 project.
While details of this new arrangement have yet to be finalized, we expect Red Bull and AlphaTauri’s engines to continue to wear the Honda brand until 2025.
“The engines will be manufactured in Japan until 2025, we will not touch them at all,” said Marko during an interview with Autorevue magazine. “That means that the rights and all these things will remain with the Japanese, which is important for 2026 because it makes us newcomers.”
Fun fact: by coming in as a brand-new engine manufacturer in 2026, RBP would benefit from the concessions that are being discussed at this point, such as a higher power unit budget cap.
Marko went on to suggest that winning the 2021 Driver’s title has encouraged Honda to stay in Formula 1.
“In the course of our ever-greater successes, a certain rethinking has taken place among the Japanese. And also, that they could of course use the battery knowledge for their electrification phase.”
“It was initially planned that they would only make our motors for 2022. Now it has been decided that this will continue until 2025, which is of course a huge advantage for us. This means we only have to make fine adjustments and calibrations,” he concluded.
We expect this shocking turn of events to benefit Red Bull not only in the long run, but also in 2022 and all other following seasons until 2026.
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