Red Bull's decision to stay with Honda PU's 'absolutely right', claims AlphaTauri boss

AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost feels Red Bull made the right call by sticking with the Honda power unit until 2025.

During an interview carried out by Motorsport.com's Spanish affiliate, the Austrian praised Christian Horner for taking this step, especially after Max Verstappen's title-winning campaign. Tost said:

“I think it was a good decision to stay with them, because these power units, with all the elements they have, it is really difficult to assemble. All the suppliers, or many of them, are in Japan, and therefore, the decision of Red Bull Technology was the right one to do it with Honda in that country, everything stays there, no changes. I must say it was a smooth transition from last year to this year, in our team [AlphaTauri] we haven’t had any negative impact, everything is working quite well, with good communication with the Honda people.”

Both Red Bull and AlphaTauri were powered by Honda up until 2021 and have achieved success with the Japanese manufacturer.

Honda's decision to quit F1 in an attempt to pave the way for a more sustainable future, however, left Horner and Co. looking for options. The Milton Keynes-based outfit subsequently acquired the Japanese engine manufacturer's IP. It also retained members of the development team and has gone on to build its own powertrains division to comply with the rules of F1.

The only sign of Honda's involvement in the team's F1 endeavors in 2022 is a small HRC (Honda Racing Corporation) badge placed at the rear of the new RB18.

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Red Bull hire former Mercedes engineer to join newly-created powertrains division

Red Bull has confirmed the acquisition of Mercedes' power unit engineer Ben Hodgkinson after more than two decades in the quiver with the Silver Arrows.

While Hodkinson was initially approached by Christian Horner and Co in 2021, the deal was not finalized until the early part of 2022. Hodgkinson will only be permitted to leave Mercedes in May, later this year.

At the time, Christian Horner was ecstatic with his coup, saying:

“We are delighted to welcome Ben to Red Bull Powertrains as Technical Director. He comes to this hugely exciting project as a proven race winner and as an innovator capable of leading a like-minded team of highly skilled engineers.”

The new RB18 will be the focus of Max Verstappen's title defense when the 2022 season gets underway under the night lights in Bahrain on Sunday, March 20.