The aftermath of Honda’s lack of F1 involvement

Honda has rotated its form through its four Formula 1 eras, all of which can be unified by a single limiting factor.

A manufacturer that can boast victories in the 1960s and 2020s should have a long and proud F1 history. And Honda can claim to have the latter.

But the fact that its four eras span 57 years and only one boasts a decade of uninterrupted F1 involvement shows Honda has a serious commitment problem.

The four eras are Honda’s first factory entry as a constructor (1964-1968); his first dedicated stint as an engine supplier, winning titles with Williams and McLaren (1983-1992); Return as factory engine builder before fully taking over partner team BAR (2000-2008); and the V6 turbo hybrid era that started with McLaren and ended with Red Bull (2015-2021).

Factory team, engine supplier, engine supplier/factory team, engine supplier. Five years, ten years, nine years, seven years.

However the four eras are viewed, they show that Honda has never had a unified vision of how to be best represented in F1 and cannot be relied on to stick with it.

The two are almost certainly linked. And every time Honda’s board of directors makes a misguided decision about the company’s F1 future, the company’s employees suffer.

Few will let you forget that Honda retired from F1 at the end of 2008 and 12 months later the team it sold to Ross Brawn and the car it paid to build both won world championships with a Mercedes engine in the rear .

Some draw comparisons between this departure and Honda’s last exit. The Japanese manufacturer left Formula 1 – officially at least – after years of work, just as it turned out well.

Honda was able to win at least one championship this time before giving away their top product to someone else. But when he handed over his engines to Red Bull – and when he signed a contract for the assembly and maintenance of these engines for four seasons! – Honda once again loses success in its own name.

Unsurprisingly, Honda is said to regret its decision. There were already behind-the-scenes suggestions that Honda should be planning its official return for F1’s next generation of turbo-hybrid rules in 2026. That would sound pretty familiar: spend a lot of money in F1, leave a bit and miss out on success, come back after a few years anyway.

At the very least, this wouldn’t have to represent the same disaster from scratch that marked the start of Honda’s V6 turbo project.

As a result of this deal, Honda will remain in close contact with F1 until at least the end of 2025 to help Red Bull through the next four seasons after its official retirement.

This will either be funded by Red Bull or offset by a mutually beneficial deal as part of the working relationship to which the two companies committed towards the end of 2021. It seems possible and pragmatic that Honda’s Sakura plant could do this with an unofficial research project dovetailed to the 2026 regulations.

It could be useful for Honda’s zero emissions corporate project, especially when it comes to F1’s battery technology and sustainable fuels. So it wouldn’t be a waste of resources. And if Honda’s board decided an F1 return was necessary, it would be able to pursue a new powerplant without starting from scratch.

Plus, if Red Bull goes it alone with its burgeoning powertrains division, there might be a willing partner right there. While there are even whispers that Honda’s board of directors has been advised to come back as a full-fledged constructor, that’s probably not a formal proposal and it seems unthinkable that Honda would actually pursue it.

Honda has never been convinced of having a full works team again. Its greatest success as an engine supplier was in the 1980s and 1990s, culminating in the spectacular partnership with McLaren that brought eight titles and 44 victories from 1988 to 1992.

It dropped a return as a constructor in favor of BAR engine supply in 2000 and when it took over that team for 2006 Team Brackley was well staffed with Honda engineers but it was not an all Honda team.

It is believed that Honda never seriously considered that its F1 return as a constructor would be in the V6 turbocharged hybrid era.

The lure of reviving the McLaren success and Ayrton Senna years was incredibly strong. But Honda also knew it lacked chassis knowledge and had no facilities. A factory Honda F1 team needs a European headquarters and in all likelihood an existing team to work with.

Traditionally, there’s something about this Japanese-European working relationship that hasn’t quite clicked.

If it could dare to stay with Formula 1 in the long term, a works team would make a lot of sense. Especially in F1’s cost-cap era. Spending for the maker is limited, branding is entirely under their control, and a longer commitment means letting the project run its course rather than cutting off your own legs.

But Honda went the motor partner route, accepting the commercial limitations that come with limited branding and the competitive ones, like having no control over the team itself.

Having finally found success with Red Bull’s two teams – Max Verstappen’s drivers’ title the obvious highlight alongside 17 race wins, 13 poles and 48 podiums – Honda will not view its fourth era as a failure.

The three-year stint with Red Bull Racing and Verstappen had already guaranteed it would leave behind a better legacy than that of 2010s McLaren, which had threatened to taint it.

But there’s a reason Honda, a respectable fifth on the list of all-time engine manufacturers with 89 wins, is well behind F1’s biggest manufacturers, which include existing F1 engine suppliers Ferrari (239), Mercedes (212) and Renault (169).

And just as the Verstappen-Honda relationship is limited by its lack of longevity, the Red Bull-Honda years will be fondly remembered by both organizations, but without even remotely being one of the great F1 combinations.

There is not only a large gap to the most successful such as Williams-Renault (9 titles, 63 victories) or McLaren-Mercedes (4 titles, 79 victories), but even to the respective top values ​​of the two brands. Red Bull won eight titles and 55 Grands Prix with Renault. The early McLaren years are seen as a benchmark for Honda, but even Williams (three titles, 23 wins) achieved more success than Red Bull.

Even if Red Bull continues to win with Honda engines in the years to come, this will never be officially acknowledged.

This is a project that was abandoned in its prime and ultimately limited by Honda’s own insecurity.

It has compromised Honda in the past and in its present. Chances are, it’s likely to hurt any returns going forward.