Honda will reportedly be involved with Red Bull until 2025, although it claims to be leaving the sport at the end of 2021. The engines developed by the Japanese manufacturer brought Max Verstappen to his first F1 title win in December 2021.
Verstappen gave Honda a nice parting gift at the end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – their first F1 title win with Red Bull. Honda was ready to leave at the end of the year, but new reports from Racingnews365 say otherwise. Their sources claim that Honda will supply engines to the team until the end of the current hybrid era, ie 2025, but the Japanese company’s name will not appear on the cars.
The decision will not affect Honda, the same sources claim, as the Japanese company was set to exit the sport amid climate change concerns. Since engine development in the sport can’t happen until 2026, Honda has no additional expenses for RnD and any expenses that are incurred can be billed to Red Bull.
Ahead of the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in December, Max Verstappen stressed the fundamental difference between Honda engines and Mercedes engines driven by rival Lewis Hamilton. The Dutchman confirmed that the deterioration of the Japanese engines is far from comparable to that of their German counterparts. He said:
“We do not have [performance] Top like Mercedes. Our engine is pretty consistent throughout its lifetime so that wouldn’t help us much.”
Red Bull couldn’t beat Mercedes in the Constructors’ Cup despite a Honda engine winning the Drivers’ Championship.
Honda’s key figure is set to stay at Red Bull in 2022
Honda Motorsport Director Masashi Yamamoto is set to join Red Bull from Honda sometime in 2022 and continue his involvement in F1. The Japanese motorsport manager will continue to advise the Milton-Keynes team. The news comes from Racingnews365, which claims multiple sources have confirmed the same thing.
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If true, we’ll likely see Yamamoto in the Red Bull garage alongside Christian Horner and Adrian Newey, all of whom will return in 2022.
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