HONDA DETAILS RED BULL ENGINE TRANSITION PLAN
“THIS WILL HELP ENSURE THAT RED BULL’S TRANSITION TO THE STATUS OF CHASSIS AND POWER UNIT MANUFACTURER IS SEAMLESS
CHRISTIAN HORNER
03
Red Bull and Honda have explained how they will continue to collaborate even after the Japanese manufacturer makes its official exit from F1 at the end of this season. Honda says it will continue to support Red Bull’s two F1 teams through 2022, ready for the new Red Bull Powertrains division to come fully on stream in 2023.
Honda and Red Bull will also work together on motorsport activities outside F1 as well as what Red Bull describes as “marketing and branding activities”. Significantly, Honda committed to maintaining its Formula Dream Project, the young driver programme of which Alphatauri driver Yuki Tsunoda is the first to reach F1. Some Honda Racing Development UK personnel will move to Red Bull Powertrains as part of the transition arrangement.
“In F1, Red Bull Powertrains will have the right to use Honda IP [intellectual property] relating to the Power Unit from 2022,” said Red Bull in a statement.
“While Honda will support Red Bull Powertrains through the assembly of power units, the provision of trackside engineering support and race operation assistance in 2022, from 2023, RBPT will take responsibility for all manufacturing and servicing of Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Alphatauri’s engines. Additionally, to ensure team continuity, there will be a transfer of Honda Racing Development UK employees to Red Bull Powertrains.”
Honda is not withdrawing from motor racing entirely, but will be folding its four-wheeled racing activities into Honda Racing Corporation, the division previously solely responsible for its motorcycle racing activities. It is likely that its relationship with Red Bull outside F1 will take the form of co-branding in marketing activities, to “promote Honda’s innovative mobility products to a broader audience and help the company achieve its stated aim of carbon neutrality throughout its operations”.
“Red Bull’s collaboration with Honda has been enormously successful,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, “and while our relationship in F1 is changing, neither of us wish for that to be the end of the story.
“We are very pleased that our ambitious and exciting Red Bull Powertrains project will be strongly supported by Honda, technically and operationally, in 2022, and this will help ensure that Red Bull’s transition to the status of chassis and power unit manufacturer is seamless.”