Red Bull reacts to outgoing partner Honda's worries about the 2026 F1 power unit

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has backed Honda to find a way and succeed with the new regulations amid concerning updates from the brand. The Austrian brand aligned with the Japanese brand first with its sister team Toro Rosso in 2018 when the ties with McLaren were finally over.

Honda became Red Bull's official partner in 2019, and the partnership won its first race in Austria that season with Max Verstappen. In 2021, the partnership tasted championship success when Verstappen won the title. At the same time, however, the Japanese manufacturer had announced that it would be leaving the sport at the end of 2021.

Once the announcement was made, Red Bull, on its part, started building its own power unit facility for the future, while Honda shut down its base. In what was a complete change of heart for the Japanese brand, it decided in 2022 that it was making a comeback in 2023 and would be a power unit supplier in 2026.

During all of this, however, almost a year was lost, and the entire facility had to be restarted. In 2026, the Japanese brand would be aligned with Aston Martin while Red Bull has partnered with Ford in the meantime. While Honda has recently expressed doubt over what it can do in 2026, Christian Horner has backed the brand to succeed, as quoted by PlanetF1. He said:

“It is a big challenge. They disbanded their project and then restarted it again. They may well have lost a little bit of time through that. But they’re a very capable company and they’ve got great strength. I am sure they’ll have a competitive power unit come 2026.”

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Red Bull on the challenge of being a power unit supplier

Red Bull will go independent from 2026 onwards as the power unit would be the first one conceived in the team's Milton Keynes facility. While much has been said about the inexperienced squad, the outfit has hired key personnel from all over the grid, including from established entities like Mercedes and Ferrari.

Horner is cognizant of the challenge involved and said:

“2026 will be a complete reset, and building your own power unit, four years ago, we had a clean sheet of paper. In four years, we built a factory and developed an engine, but we’re taking on 75 years of experience with Ferrari and 30 years with HPP [Mercedes High Performance Powertrains], so we have no illusions."

He added:

“The mountain that we have to climb is immense, but with the right spirit and the right quality people that we have within the business it will be achievable. It’s by far the biggest challenge that we’ve taken on in Formula 1.”

Horner going up against the might of Ferrari, Mercedes, and Honda is not the first time in his career. While the battlefield is different this time around, it would be hard to count him out in any which way.