Since 2019, Red Bull has been using engines from Japanese manufacturer Honda in Formula 1 after its successful relationship with Renault came to a bitter end.
Red Bull’s sister team, Toro Rosso (now Alpha Tauri) kept the engines running for the 2018 season so the former could evaluate the engine’s performance before moving to Honda the following year.
With his triumph at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021, Max Verstappen became the first Formula 1 driver to win the world championship with Honda engines in nearly three decades since the triumph of Ayrton Senna and McLaren in 1991.
With the end of the 2021 season, however, Honda’s time in the premier class of motorsport will also come to an end. Amid the financial hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Japanese manufacturer decided to quit the sport just seven years after returning to McLaren in 2015.
Honda’s decision made Red Bull and its sister team Alpha Tauri look for an engine supplier from 2022. For obvious reasons, Mercedes engines were out of the question, so Red Bull had to choose engines from the remaining two engine suppliers in Formula 1 – Renault and Ferrari.
As an engine manufacturer, Renault dominated Formula 1 in the first half of the 2010s. However, their inability to produce a powerful engine to challenge Mercedes and Ferrari in the turbo-hybrid era broke their relationship with Red Bull.
Weekend plans? Cancel it 
F1 has arrived at @netflix. And we’re just * a little * excited
Formula 1: Drive to Survive – now available worldwide!
Weekend plans? Cancel it
F1 has arrived at @netflix. And we’re just * a little * excited about Formula 1: Drive to Survive – now available worldwide! https://t.co/qjFIYkqc2G
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner previously said that the lack of a competent engine was a major factor in preventing his team from fighting for the world championship in recent years. Many believe that Red Bull had a superior chassis compared to the Mercedes in 2014 when it dominated the sport.
Furthermore, in line with their desire to be a real “works team”, Red Bull has also decided against becoming a Ferrari “customer team”. A factory team can create more efficient designs through greater integration and collaboration between the people who work on the engine and chassis – a luxury a customer team doesn’t have.
Red Bull takes over Honda F1 engines
Finally, considering all the options available for 2022, Red Bull decided to start building its engines from next year rather than becoming a customer team. Earlier this year, Red Bull announced that they had agreed with Honda to take over Honda’s F1 engine division from 2022.
Shortly after the announcement, Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner said in an interview with F1.com:
“We are very pleased that our ambitious and exciting Red Bull Powertrains project in 2022 will receive strong technical and operational support from Honda and that this will help Red Bull’s transition to the status of chassis and engine manufacturer run smoothly.” do you have it. Without doubt.
Honda IP becomes Red Bull’s institutional knowledge, with UK employees joining Red Bull Powertrains to produce the next-era challenger.
Well there you have it. Without a doubt. Honda IP is becoming Red Bull’s institutional knowledge, with UK employees joining together in Red Bull Powertrains to produce the next-era challenger. Https://t.co/ cagEYm4fMn
Under the agreement, Honda will transfer all engine intellectual property to Red Bull. The latter is also taking on existing Honda staff to work on its future engines and hiring outside talent.
Red Bull wants to build its engines for the 2026 season and later, when the new engine regulations come into force. Meanwhile, F1 engine development has been frozen from this year (following extensive lobbying by Red Bull) to contain costs.
also readArticle goes below
Also read: What is an F1 engine? – F1 engine explained
Sign in to reply
