Red Bull Racing and Honda have confirmed that they will be extending their partnership with a power unit support deal extension until the end of the 2025 season.
Honda departed F1 at the end of the 2021 season. They, however, remain under a support agreement with the Milton Keynes-based team, while the Red Bull Powertrains have taken over the Honda engine IP. The partnership was initially supposed to last until the end of 2023 but has now been extended for two more years before the new 2026 season regulations are introduced.
As reported by F1.com, Red Bull team advisor Dr. Helmut Marko thanked the Japanese manufacturer for the partnership they have shared so far, whilst expressing his expectations for the upcoming seasons. He said:
“We thank Honda for their positive response to working together. We are excited to continue our partnership in F1 until the end of 2025 with the PU supplied by Honda. We have had a successful relationship so far, winning the drivers’ championship in 2021 and currently leading the drivers’ and teams’ classifications, with the aim of securing both 2022 titles.”
Speaking about the Honda-Red Bull relationship so far, team boss Christian Horner said:
“Red Bull’s partnership with Honda has been an incredibly successful one and we are pleased that this will continue until the end of the current era of the FIA’s power unit regulations in 2025.”
Meanwhile, Honda Racing Corporation CEO Koji Watanabe stated:
“We have agreed to continue supporting Red Bull Power Trains in Formula 1 through HRC, following Red Bull’s request to extend our current agreement, which HRC can meet within its existing resources. Once again, we aim to use our involvement in the pinnacle of motorsport for the development of technologies and of our workforce.”
Red Bull got “lucky” with power unit issues at 2022 F1 Hungarian GP qualifying, says team boss
Christian Horner revealed that the team went ahead and replaced both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez’s power units ahead of the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP last weekend after a part of the Dutchman’s engine broke during qualifying. This potentially saved both cars from a potential DNF.
In a post-race media interaction, the Austrian said:
“We changed the power unit because there was a part that broke on Max’s [Verstappen] car [in qualifying]. Luckily we are here now (as race winners) [but] with the maximum hindsight it’s lucky the part broke yesterday because with 12 kilometers more, it would have broken during the laps to the grid. So we decided to change the whole power unit rather than trying to fix it there. And as a precaution, we also changed Checo’s [Sergio Perez] engines.”
Horner then went on to praise his drivers and the rest of the team for the mega result despite a poor qualifying session at the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP, saying:
“It was a fantastic race today. Everyone puts in a top performance. Max was exceptional, even adding a little spin to his race as if coming back from 10th wasn’t hard enough. Equally, Checo had a brilliant race and I believe if it hadn’t been for the VSC he would have podiumed. Strategy played a big part in our victory.”
The team now enjoys a whopping 97-point advantage over Ferrari in the constructors’ standings.
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https://formulaone.news/red-bull/a-bit-more-of-a-struggle
