Following Honda’s decision to leave F1 at the end of last season, the Japanese manufacturer agreed to help manufacture and run its power units despite Red Bull being leased the IP.
That was originally intended to be for this season, with Red Bull then anticipated to take over the operation and run it from its own powertrains division.
But with Red Bull’s focus at Milton Keynes being very much on the 2026 engine project, which is likely to be with Porsche, a change of plans fuelled talks about rolling the Honda deal through to the end of 2025. This has now been formally agreed.
It means that the Honda Racing Corporation (HRC), which runs the company's motorsport activities, will work with Red Bull through to the end of the current F1 engine rules cycle.
This is significant for Red Bull, because it means that Red Bull Powertrains will be officially classified as a new entrant from 2026 so can get concessions.
Honda is able to continue devoting resource to the F1 power unit project because of the engine freeze that is in place, which means it does not need to undertake any expensive development.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said about the extended Honda partnership: “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.”
Koji Watanabe, president of HRC, added: “We have agreed to continue supporting Red Bull Powertrains in Formula 1 through HRC, following Red Bull’s request to extend our current agreement, which HRC can meet within its existing resources.
“Once again, we aim to use our involvement in the pinnacle of motorsport for the development of technologies and of our workforce.”
The extension of Honda’s involvement also makes it likely that there will be bigger branding for the Japanese manufacturer on the Red Bull and AlphaTauri cars from 2023. This season the badging has been wholly HRC.
Speaking to Motorsport.com last month about a more visible Honda presence, Watanabe said: “We need to decide for the next season, but personally I want to utilise more Honda....So the combination of Honda and HRC.”
