Honda turns out to be the Soldier of Orange among the engine suppliers. Initially, Honda was supposed to leave after 2021, but apparently such a world championship is nice. Team advisor Helmut Marko now leaves to the Austrian Autorevue know that Honda will continue to supply engines to Red Bull Racing through 2025. That provides an extra advantage for Red Bull, which can count on a bonus.
‘We have taken a completely different path than we had envisioned beforehand. The engines will be made in Japan until 2025,” Marko told Autorevue. He adds: ‘Initially it was intended that they would make our engines until 2022. It has now been decided that this will continue until 2025.’ According to Marko, Red Bull will not even touch the engines until they are delivered.
Honda will remain engine supplier until 2026, after which Red Bull will take over
Incidentally, Honda’s capriciousness does not put an end to Red Bull’s plans to develop engines itself. Red Bull Racing, or actually Red Bull Powertrains (RBP), can focus entirely on developing the engine for 2026 in the coming years, when new engine regulations will come into effect. The new F1 engine for 2026 will be built by Red Bull in England.
An additional advantage is that RBP is then officially a new engine supplier and can count on a bonus. This bonus should lure other car brands to supply engines for F1, such as Porsche or Audi. Incidentally, there are still persistent rumors that Porsche will build the engines for Red Bull. The coming years will show where the truth lies.