Red Bull wouldn’t have pursued own F1 engine project if they knew Honda would return
Earlier this week 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Honda announced their re🎐turn to F1 as Aston Martin’s engine supplier for 2026.
The news comes ju༺st under three years after Honda announced they wꦚere leaving F1.
Honda’s decision came just before Red Bull’s title s♔uccess in 2021, ꦍwith their championship success partially down to the Japanese manufacturer’s superb power unit.
While Honda continue to remain involved with the management of the current engine, Red Bull decided that they would bui🏅ld their own power unit for the new regulations in 2026.
Ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen conceded that “it’s a shame” Honda would no longer be workiꦺng with the team from 202ܫ6 onwards.
Horner echoed his star driver’s thoughts and sta♑ted they wouldn’t have set up Red Bull Powertrains if they knew Hond💖a’s decision to make a comeback in hindsight.
“Well it was certainly an expensive de🗹cision,” Horner said on Friday. “For us, for the long term, prospects of Red Bull, we’ve outgrown being a customer [team] and for us to have the power unit on site, on campus, integrated fully with chassis and the synergies that creates with engine and chassis engineers s🦄itting next to each other I think for us in the long term the advantages are significant.
“We wouldn’t have made that jump had it not been for Honda’s withdrawal. In many rꦉespects, we should be grateful for giving us that push to create our own engine facility - the jobs it’s created and provided and of course the partnership we have with Ford is particularly exciting.
“The commit♓ment from Red Bull and the shareholders to the project. Would we have made the same decision knowing what Honda’s decision was today? Absolutely not but we made it and we’re committed to it. A꧅s we’ve got involved the more benefits we see to the group long term.”
Horner believes Honda’s co𒈔meback🐻 with Aston Martin is only positive news for F1 as a whole.
It means there are now s🏅ix engine manufacturers signed up for 2026 - Honda, Red Bull-Ford, Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault (Alpine) and Audi.
“I think it’s positive for Honda,” he added. “It’s posi🎶tive for Formula 1. They are a great brand and they’ve got a great legacy in the sport. We’ve enjoyed and continue to enjoy, and will do so for another two and a half years, a great relationship and supply with them.
“Obviously, they announced their withdrawal ๊in 2020 and that forced us to make a decision long-term wise as to what strategically was the best route forward for♏ us. We created Red Bull Powertrains, they agreed to become a technical supplier to Red Bull Powertrains and we’ve enjoyed a great working relationship but of course now we’re off on our own journey as an engine manufacturer.”
With a sharp eye for F🧸1’s controversies and storylines, Connor is the heartbeat 🌞of our unbiased reporting.
