Engine supplier Honda has announced in Tokyo that it will be leaving Formula 1 at the end of the 2021 season. The Japanese manufacturer currently supplies the Red Bull and Alpha Tauri teams, both of which drive under the umbrella of the beverage company. Both racing teams will now have to look for new engines, which is likely to be difficult in the current situation on the automotive market.
Honda had its most successful years in Formula 1 with the McLaren team at the end of the 1980s. Now the group has justified its exit with a long-term strategy, but the effects of the corona pandemic should not have been a major factor. Honda wants to concentrate on the upheaval in the automotive industry, basically aiming at the goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050.
Red Bull has been racing in Formula 1 since 2005. Initially, the team was supplied by Cosworth, drove with Ferrari engines in the following season and then switched to Renault in 2007. This partnership ended – accompanied by a lot of background noise – in 2019, and the team has been working with Honda ever since. Team boss Christian Horner and consultant Helmut Marko are therefore familiar with changing engines, but this time the exit comes as a surprise.
“The decision presents our team with obvious challenges,” said a message from Red Bull: “But we know that and we are well prepared and strong enough to react.”
However, the possibilities in Formula 1 are currently very limited. Red Bull competes with Mercedes and Ferrari for the top of the series, so an engine partnership is difficult to imagine. That left Renault. But a return to the manufacturer, who was left in great dissatisfaction and has made little progress since then, is not very attractive from Red Bull’s point of view. Whether another manufacturer will find its way into Formula 1 is also uncertain at the moment.
