Remy Ramjiawan
Honda Formula 1 director Masashi Yamamoto has revealed that there have been no discussions to reconsider the Japanese brand’s departure, even after Max Verstappen won the world title.
The Japanese engine supplier has officially pulled out of Formula 1 after a seven-year period. Honda’s last assignment began in 2015 at McLaren, where the Japanese struggled with the reliability and speed of the engine. In 2019, the power unit of Red Bull Racing was installed in the car and the success was not long in coming. The podium was achieved during the first race in Australia, and not so long after that year that Verstappen even won in Austria.
No doubt
It would not be surprising that Honda, after the Verstappen world title, had doubts about leaving the sport. “Exiting Formula 1 was a difficult decision, but we chose a climate-neutral path, which we do for all of our customers around the world,” Yamamoto said. A good performance this year doesn’t change that: “So even though we’ve had good results this year, we’ve never had any discussions about selection.”
Red Bull Powertrains
Red Bull Racing expected to leave by starting its engine division. That is why they have seized the intellectual property of Honda and will work with the division called: Red Bull Powertrains. The Japanese brand stresses that it will continue to support Red Bull as much as possible, but is already taking charge of the Formula 1 project: “In agreement with Red Bull, we will try to help AlphaTauri and Red Bull in all areas as best we can.”
