2nd August 2022, 12:09 | Written by Keith Collantine

Red Bull will continue to receive technical support from Honda in running their Formula 1 power units until the current engine regulations are replaced.

Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free Honda, which became Red Bull’s power unit supplier in 2019, officially withdrew from F1 at the end of last season, despite powering Max Verstappen to the world championship.

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Red Bull have built their own power unit production facility at their Milton Keynes base, and Red Bull Powertrains have received support from Honda Racing Corporation in preparing power units for the 2022 season.

That support deal was due to conclude at the end of the 2023 F1 season. However Red Bull and Honda have now agreed an extension which will cover the next two campaigns.

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Red Bull will therefore continue to receive assistance from Honda until the current V6 hybrid turbo power unit regulations are replaced in 2026.

“Red Bull’s partnership with Honda has been an incredibly successful one and we are pleased that this will continue until the end of the current era of the FIA’s power unit regulations in 2025,” said team principal Christian Horner.

With nine races left this year, Red Bull lead the constructors championship by 93 points while Verstappen has an 80-point lead in the drivers standings.

The team is pursuing a deal with Porsche to produce a power unit for F1’s new regulations in 2026.

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With Porsche coming in from 2026, it makes sense for Red Bull Power Trains to become part of that operation when the time comes, spending time on building the facilities for the Honda engines would only interfere with that project, I’d imagine.

It’s specifically done this was to make sure that a Red Bull/Porsche powertrain qualifies as a “new entrant” with respect to the engine @sjaakfoo, since that allows some extra scope for developing of the engine under the rules designed to make it easier for such new entrants to get “up to speed” with the existing teams.

@bascb That’s explain why Ferrari and Mercedes are causing delays for the 2026 engine regulations to be signed off so that they can ensure Porsche will not have a jump start.

Yes, I have little doubt that was strong on their minds during the talks. As was it in Horners mind when he kept bemoaning delays @tifoso1989

ORBRPT probably still don’t believe in the tie-up as they are still poaching / recruiting Mercedes staff I saw somewhere the other day.

You would think the whole idea of Porsche was that they would make the engine. It is hard to see how the joint venture is going to work if Porsche are expecting to perhaps be the lead management team.

Though I understand Porsche is more than capable of developing an F1 engine on their own, they may prefer to have Red Bull Powertrains as a starting point:

– it’s more economically interesting as neither new facilities need to be developed nor a new team assembled (as their current teams and facilities will continue with their current programs, as far as I know); – Red Bull Powertrains has specific F1 engine expertise (particularly regarding its personnel but also its tools) that Porsche doesn’t currently have; – Porsche’s engine development doesn’t have to start from scratch, with better economical and sporting results for sure (we just need to remember Honda’s difficulties when trying to go down that path).

I believe they can’t. Honda has the ip. RBR is licenced to use that ip. For sure Porsche can’t use any of it.

Yuki just got two more years at Alpha tauri

The engine development freeze should be removed immediately.

So RedBull lobbied for an engine freeze because Honda were leaving and they wanted time to catch up. Only for Honda to NOT leave at all? — MERC (@mercedesintern) August 2, 2022

I think I agree with this… All teams, especially team managers are lobbyists, if not scammers to get any ounce of advantage.

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