Red Bull, after eight years, won its first drivers’ championship with Max Verstappen and massive credits go to Honda for a powerful engine.
Max Verstappen won his first championship with Red Bull in 2021. For this day, Red Bull waited long eight years and tolerated the never-ending Mercedes’ dominance, which is still present, as the Brackley based team won the other championship in 2021.
However, Honda did whatever it could and vested all its energy for 2021, especially when it was announced to be their last season in F1, amidst a change in its policy.
Redbull have now taken Honda out of their name 😔 pic.twitter.com/cZ4kg4t13b
— JM (@f1jm_) January 4, 2022
Now, Honda’s F1 boss Toyoharu Tanabe reveals how they led Verstappen to the pinnacle of the sport with Red Bull. Moreover, leaving away a powerful engine until the next power unit regulations.
“The most important thing is communication,” Tanabe told RacingNews365.com. “Our desire is the same [as it was] to win races and win the championship. How [do we] achieve our purpose or desire? The key is to make a high-performance car as a package.
“We discussed a lot what we wanted to do with each other and then made a compromised decision to make the car fast. “We know each other very much, so it was very open-minded [and] a very detailed discussion.”
“That discussion and then communication makes us a strong, kind of one team.”
Also read: Honda boss claims Japanese manufacturer left Formula 1 too early
Max Verstappen also invested his time with Honda
Besides technical excellence, Tanabe credits Verstappen’s talent and determination to succeed. Thus, Red Bull managed to pose a consistent challenge to Mercedes this year.
“I think he has a talent, he has a skill, to drive the car fast,” continued Tanabe. “Not only fast, but also as a kind of sensor, a human sensor; he is compassionate, and the feedback is exact.”
“For the engine condition, he realises very small sounds or feelings – he could tell us very small things. His feedback and kind of testing was very useful for us.”
Also read: Former F1 Champion feels Red Bull glory was the perfect way for Honda to sign off from the sport
