Honda forges new collaboration with Red Bull Racing 

With Honda’s role as engine supplier to Red Bull Racing coming to an end this season, the Japanese automaker has entered into a new collaboration with the Milton Keynes-based team.

Entering into a diverse agreement to assist the development of Red Bull Powertrains, Honda will collaborate with the Red Bull Group of companies in a wider spectrum of motorsport activities.

Under the new alliance, Honda Racing will work closely with the Red Bull Group of companies to assist in the assembly of the power units under the Red Bull Powertrain badge. They will be providing trackside engineering and support during the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

The partnership will also extend to Red Bull Racing's sister team, Scuderia Alpha Tauri for the next two seasons.

Explaining the agreement, Red Bull Racing Honda CEO and team principal Christian Horner said:

“Red Bull’s collaboration with Honda has been enormously successful and while our relationship in Formula 1 is changing, neither of us wish for that to be the end of the story. We are very pleased that our ambitious and exciting Red Bull Powertrains project will be strongly supported by Honda, technically and operationally, in 2022 and this will help ensure that Red Bull’s transition to the status of chassis and power unit manufacturer is seamless.”

Honda Motor Co., Ltd.'s Chief Officer for Brand and Communication Operations Watanabe Koji said:

“I’m glad that we have reached an agreement with Red Bull Group covering all the details of the IP rights for the F1 Power Unit and in this way, Honda can still contribute to the motor racing world.”

The partnership will allow Red Bull Powertrains to use the Honda’s intellectual properties relating to power units, and employees of Honda Racing Development UK (Milton Keynes) will transfer to the Red Bull Powertrains division.

Honda's new partnership with Red Bull Racing will extend beyond assisting power unit development

Additionally, the Japanese engine supplier will continue its Honda Formula Dream Project to promote young driver programs alongside the Red Bull Junior driver program to provide a platform for Japanese talent to enter global motorsport. Their joint-driver program has supported talent like Yuki Tsunoda's surge to Formula 1.

Red Bull Racing Honda junior driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan who currently races with Scuderia AlphaTauri at the Istanbul circuit in Turkey. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

The diverse agreement between Honda and Red Bull Racing will also include a joint presence in other forms of motorsport, marketing and branding activities. Honda’s interests to promote its innovative mobility products to a broader audience through this collaboration were explained by Watanabe, who said:

“We are now working hard to strengthen HRC’s structure, so that it can ensure our fans will be able to continue to enjoy Honda’s role in all types of motorsport.”

As the Red Bull Racing team heads into Formula 1’s new era in 2022, this partnership will ensure their horsepower supply and ability to produce efficient raceworthy engines for future seasons.