F1 News: Red Bull Teams With Honda Power, Ends Renault Partnership

The Red Bull Racing team will be powered by Japanese engine manufacturer Honda during the 2019 and 2020 Formula 1 season after the two sides reached an agreement on a multi-year deal Tuesday.

The Austrian-owned team will end their long standing relationship with current engine providers Renault after the 2018 campaign. Red Bull and the French manufacturer will bring to an end a 12-year partnership that earned them eight world titles (four Drivers’ championships and four Constructors’ championships) and multiple race wins, with the most recent coming at the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix.

Red Bull’s relationship with Renault had begun to sour after numerous verbal jibes were thrown at them for not developing an engine that can match Mercedes and Ferrari. The French engine manufacturer had given Red Bull a deadline to make a decision and made it clear they will not wait until the Austrian Grand Prix in July.

The only choice for Red Bull was to either re-sign with Renault or move to Honda, who are already partners with their sister team — Scuderia Toro Rosso. The Japanese manufacturer have shown a considerable amount of development this season, which seems to have impressed the Red Bull hierarchy to make the switch.

“This multi-year agreement with Honda signals the start of an exciting new phase in Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s efforts to compete not just for grand prix wins but for what is always our goal – championship titles,” Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal said following the announcement to partner Honda.

“We have always taken decisions such as this dispassionately and with only one criteria in mind – do we believe the outcome will allow us to compete at a higher level. After careful consideration and evaluation we are certain this partnership with Honda is the right direction for the Team. … We have been impressed by Honda’s commitment to F1, by the rapid steps they have made in recent times with our sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso, and by the scope of their ambition, which matches our own. We look forward to working with Honda in the coming years and to racing together in pursuit of F1’s biggest prizes,” he added.

Honda returned to F1 in 2015 partnering McLaren, but that did not coincide with their plans of winning Grand Prix’s and recapturing the glory days from their first tie up with McLaren during the 1988-92 seasons.

They endured a horrific reunion that was fraught with engine reliability issues and lack of performance compared to the other manufacturers. McLaren had their lowest ever finish in the championship — 9th with 27 points — and the thought of finishing on the podium was not even a distant dream, which led to them ending their partnership after the 2017 season.

However, Honda have shown considerable amount of improvement since moving to Toro Rosso this season and have already picked up 19 Constructors’ championship points, putting them in seventh place ahead of Haas Racing and Alfa Romeo Sauber, who are powered by Ferrari and the Mercedes powered Williams team.

Takahiro Hachigo, president & representative director of Honda Motor Co., is confident their new partnership with Red Bull will be successful owing to them now having double the data available to continue their development.

“Having established a good relationship with Scuderia Toro Rosso, we have decided to extend our Formula 1 involvement to the other team in the Red Bull family, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, as from the 2019 season,” Hachigo said.

“Having two teams means we can access twice as much data as previously. We believe that working with both Toro Rosso and Red Bull Racing will allow us to get closer to our goal of winning races and championships, building two strong partnerships. Discussions proceeded very quickly, thanks to Red Bull’s open and respectful attitude towards Honda, leading to a deal that is fair and equitable for all parties.”

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, as they will continue to be known, for the first time in their history, will now become a works team from the 2019 season. They will be one of four on the grid with the other three being Scuderia Ferrari, Mercedes AMG F1 and Renault Sport F1.