Red Bull Confirms Honda Power for F1 2019

[Paul Jeffrey]

Surprising no one, Red Bull Racing have confirmed a “multiyear” deal to run works Honda engines in Formula One from the 2019 season.

Having used the partnership between Honda and Red Bull sister outfit Toro Rosso to access the potential of such a move, Red Bull have today confirmed an agreement has been put in place to use Japanese Honda power from the start of next season, drawing to a close the very successful 12-year relationship between the Austrian outfit and current engine supplier Renault.

As well as making a move to Red Bull, Honda will continue to supply junior team Toro Rosso for the foreseeable future, an arrangement that Honda believe will help the struggling manufacturer learn and develop faster than has been the case since their return to Formula One back in 2015.

Speaking of the newly confirmed deal, Hondas Takahiro Hachigo said:

"Having two teams means we can access twice as much data as previously.

"We believe that working with both Toro Rosso and Red Bull Racing will allow us to get closer to our goal of winning races and championships, building two strong partnerships.

"Discussions proceeded very quickly, thanks to Red Bull’s open and respectful attitude towards Honda, leading to a deal that is fair and equitable for all parties."​

Red Bull and Renault have secured an impressive 57 Grand Prix victories and four double World Championships since starting their partnership together, however with the French concern now running their own team, plus a new partnership with McLaren for the 2018 season, Christian Horner believes a move to a dedicated manufacturer support package is the best way for Red Bull to once again fight at the front of the grid, whilst still praising Renault for the success the two outfits have achieved together in recent years:

"We would like to thank Renault for the past 12 years, a period during which we experienced some incredible moments together," said Horner.

"We have sometimes had our differences but Renault has always worked tirelessly and to the best of its ability to provide us with a competitive power unit."​

The question is, can Red Bull fight at the front with Honda power, and will the announcement today have an influence on the contract negotiations for star driver Daniel Ricciardo?

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Good move, or risky decision? Let us know in the comments below!

 

[Nick Gregory]

"Multiyear" is code for "we can't get anything else until 2021".

 

[ears]

I think everyone's been surprised by the McLaren Honda separation.

The lines McLaren were able to spurt about their chassis being one of the best and the engine being the worst now look to be somewhat exaggerated.

Dark, dark times for McLaren.

And the sheer fact that Honda are still here, after all the negativity, shows a heck of a commitment.

Not a bad move at all for Red Bull, in my opinion.

 

[Patrick van der Meulen]

At first sight in may appear not so smart. But don’t forget McLaren had been a very bad marriage since the beginning. Honda gave McLaren shitloads of money but didn’t get anything back for it.

I think Redbull and Honda is a way better combo. Redbull isn’t depending on Honda’s money. So in that respect they are more even at the beginning. And the PU is making way more and faster progress than Renault.

And for Renault it will be a great loss because of an important source of money they lose.

 

[gamer19]

W0W. That's a great news !

 

[keto95]

Honda had a bad engine in the previous years and in fact Toro Rosso haven't improved their performance this season. Renault performed better and is capable of delivering a PU going for the win. At least McLaren is performing better with the Renault this year then they did with the Honda in the previous years. I'm sure RedBull considered the pros and cons well enough to come to this decision, but something tells me that they made the wrong choice.

 

[Davebrave]

I'm afraid that McLaren is turning into the "new Williams". The 2015 McLaren concept has been proved to be wrong and it wasn't only Honda's fault: both Honda and McLaren shared the blame.
TBH, I think RBR had little choice as Renault is growing stronger as F1 Team, so in the next two years they may even fall behind them. Changing PU makes sense as the only chance for them to keep some degree of competition.

Comparing RBR-Honda and McLaren-Honda, it's clear that the former will perform better as they already have a better platform, but that doesn't necessarily mean Honda have improved a lot... I still remember the early years of 2000's when they performed rather mediocre.

 

[LoeVG]

@keto95 ,

Take a closer look at Toro Rosso's performance this year! That Honda PU is not to be mistaken.. Sure it's still slower than Ferrari, Mercedes & Renault, but Honda is catching up!

 

[Franske]

Fantastic news .... again a Verstappen in a Honda .... at least a car with a Honda engine.

 

[keto95]

but Honda is catching up!

For RedBull I hope so, but I'm not convinced yet. RedBull is aiming for the world title asap and seeing where Honda is coming from, I don't think they can make such leaps forward to come up to that expectation; especially on short notice. A 'catching up' PU is simply not good enough to conquer the world title. Time will tell...

 

[vee10]

I think it's a great move for everyone.

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Exxon Mobil Tag Heuer Honda now have a works engine that Adrian Newey can dictate elements of design for to suit the Red Bull chassis, they also no longer need to pay for it.

Renault have dispensed with the most ungrateful customer team in F1 history and can now concentrate on their own push with help from a top Mercedes engine engineer.

Honda have the chance to win races for the first time in a long time.

Performance wise there does not appear to be much in it in race trim between all manufacturers as they all converge.

Williams and to some extent Mclaren have proven that the engine is actually becoming less and less important anyway as they underperform relative to other teams with the same engine.

 

[jpalesi]

Red Bull : complains about the Renault power, goes to Honda. Great logic.

What does it mean for Ricciardo, is it one more reason to move ?

Renault have dispensed with the most ungrateful customer team in F1 history and can now concentrate on their own push with help from a top Mercedes engine engineer.

Yup, yup. Red Bull appears to be an awful team on the human side, not handling human relationships very well.
Their junior program is almost empty, to the point they have to take back their own rejects to fill Toro Rosso (there's a Vergne rumor now), and they burned bridges with one of the four engine manufacturer, with Ferrari and Mercedes not too keen on suffering RB because of that.

 

[RobertGracie]

I will have to see what happens in winter testing before I make any claims about the car, as for now with the Toro Rosso stuff going on the engines seem good but for now I will wait until the 2019 Winter Testing comes into play and we all get to see the Red Bull-Honda RB15

 

[vee10]

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/136857/how-red-bullrenaultEURTMs-f1-legacy-was-corrupted

 

[Cote Dazur]

Great news for Ferrari and Mercedes fans.

 

[keto95]

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/136857/how-red-bullrenaultEURTMs-f1-legacy-was-corrupted

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/136854/honda-outlines-initial-red-bull-target

So probably no world title next year. A tough decision for Ricciardo to make on his career move.

 

[Scottt]

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/136854/honda-outlines-initial-red-bull-target

So probably no world title next year. A tough decision for Ricciardo to make on his career move.

Renault was never the best engine during that time; they were simply competitive enough to allow Newey's chassis to show it's dominance. RBR pretty much always struggled at the engine dependent tracks. I never understood this idea that Red Bull won because of Renault; it's more accurate to say they won despite Renault.

 

[vee10]

Renault was never the best engine during that time; they were simply competitive enough to allow Newey's chassis to show it's dominance. I never understood this idea that Red Bull won because of Renault; it's more accurate to say they won despite Renault.

Well not quite true, no one ever said that, Newey selected the Renault for various reasons for his design, Renault were the masters of exhaust blowing implementation that suited the Red Bull and Vettel's driving style, no one else managed to map the engine as well.

Renault's philosophy has always been about far more than outright power invariably throughout all the era's they have participated in they have never been the most powerful, but they have always been the most driveable engines.

 

[formidable]

I think that is a bad decission now.

 

[jpalesi]

Red Bull had an habit in the past years of starting the year badly in terms of chassis performance, and catch up in the season (not this year though). And even then, despite the chassis issues, all they could talk about was Renault, Renault and Renault.