“Red Bull and Honda have been working on that project”– Honda and Red bull alliance to continue in 2022 even though the former is leaving F1.
Honda at the start of 2020, decided to leave Formula 1 due to the change in commercial interests, but Red Bull managed to work on the engine freeze, which will allow them to use their present power unit till 2025.
With this massive responsibilities are going to come at Red Bull’s behest, as they have never before dealt with the operations of a power unit, and have always been a customer team.
So, it has been reported that Honda would be supplying Red Bull’s 2022 engines from Sakura, Japan, even though they have decided to leave by the end of this year.
“Red Bull and Honda have been working on that project and how to proceed that transition for next year,” Honda’s technical director Toyoharu Tanabe told RacingNews365.com and other select members of the press.
“I cannot tell the detail but generally we are going [in] a good direction. We should prepare well for next year so now we are working very hard [and] I am working very hard at the trackside.”
It’s a transition not an extension of the partnership
Honda and Red Bull have also clarified that this is not in any way a reversal or will lead to a reversal of the decision Honda made a year ago; rather it’s only a transition.
“Obviously as we gear ourselves up within Red Bull Powertrains, 2022 will be a transitionary year,” said Horner. “So we’re working with Honda to have a have a soft landing where the engines will continue to be assembled in Sakura in 2022 before that process [is] taken on in our new facility in time for 2023.”
Apart from this, it was also disclosed that Honda would be loaning some of their staff to Red Bull next year to assist them in handling the engine operations.
