Red Bull will get the Honda engine back after 2021

From the unanimous adoption of the 2022 engine freeze by the F1 Commission, the announcement was no longer in doubt. Red Bull formalized this Monday an agreement with Honda to recover the technology of the Japanese powertrain and continue to exploit it after the official withdrawal of the Japanese manufacturer at the end of 2021. 

In order to carry out this project, the Austrian giant founded a new company, called Red Bull Powertrains Limited. This engine division will be based at the Red Bull Technology campus in Milton Keynes (United Kingdom). 

The Red Bull-Honda agreement covers the duration of the engine freeze, i.e. until the advent of the future generation of propellers F1 in 2025. The V6 turbo hybrids from the Red Bull Powertrains workshops will equip Red Bull Racing as well as its sister team Alpha Tauri. 

« We had been talking with Honda for a while and the FIA's decision to apply an engine freeze from 2022 allowed us to reach an agreement to take over their hybrid engine., commented Helmut Marko, Red Bull special advisor. 

We are grateful to Honda, whose support will enable us to continue supplying competitive engines to Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri. Creating a department like Red Bull Powertrains is a courageous decision. We are well aware of the enormous investment such a project represents but we are convinced that it is the best option for both teams. ». 

« This agreement represents a major milestone in Red Bull's Formula 1 history, said Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing team principal. We were understandably disappointed when we learned of Honda's decision to leave the sport but we appreciate their support in facilitating this new partnership. Honda has invested heavily in hybrid technology and we have started to relocate the engine division to our new facilities ». 

As Marko points out, the initial investment is not negligible but it will be offset in the medium term by the savings made by not paying another manufacturer for engine supplies. 

The Red Bull can also amortize the sums spent by giving a sponsor the possibility of affixing its identity to the name of the future engine in the form of a badge, as it did with TAG Heuer between 2016 and 2018.

And who knows if the future generation of engines, now expected for 2025, will not allow Red Bull to make its investments even more profitable by developing a chassis-engine assembly under its roof? 

With this in mind, the roadmap presented after the last meeting of the F1 Commission is likely to encourage the Austrian giant in its current efforts.