Why the Red Bull-Honda bond was beyond saving after F1 2025

From an inauspicious start in a Mercedes-dominated era, Red Bull’s partnership with Honda propelled both teams back to the front, with Max Verstappen following in Sebastian Vettel’s footsteps as a four-time world champion, amassing 63 wins by the end of 2024.

But it’s a success story that is coming to an end, with Red Bull taking matters into its own hands with Red Bull Powertrains-Ford, while Honda joins forces with Aston Martin for 2026’s new power unit regulations.

October 2020: Honda pulls out

Alex Albon, Red Bull Racing RB16

Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images

The beginning of the end of the Red Bull-Honda partnership was 2 October 2020, the day Honda officially announced it would leave Formula 1 after the 2021 season. The company stated it was fully committed to electrification and feared the economic consequences of the global COVID-19 crisis. “Honda needs to funnel its corporate resources in research and development of future power unit and energy technologies,” a statement at the time read. An expensive F1 programme no longer fitted into that picture.

It was a shock to many in the F1 paddock, including Red Bull itself, which had to come up with a plan amid limited options. “I am a great believer in fate. It was during COVID that Honda decided to withdraw, so that left us with a choice”, team principal Horner said. “We wouldn’t get an engine from Mercedes and at Ferrari, we weren’t sure how many cylinders we would get! Renault, we had been there and done that, to go back again didn’t feel right. It felt like it almost forced our hand to say ‘okay, let’s make a decision’.”

One left-field option was to acquire Honda’s IP and build the current power unit until the end of the current rules cycle, but that proved too complicated to pull off for both sides. “Having explored that it became more and more complex, because that process is not just about building engines, it is way more than that with the supply chain and so on,” Horner said.

A more realistic path was a paid deal between Honda and Red Bull until the end of 2025. Honda would provide technical support, and all engines for both Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls would still come from Japan. “We announced stopping our Formula 1 activities, but after discussions with Red Bull, they wanted us to continue the activities. That’s why we became a kind of technical support since then. In fact, we still operate everything on the power unit side”, Honda Racing Corporation chief Watanabe told Motorsport.com.

Horner added: “We are a customer to Honda. We pay for engines through a separate entity of Red Bull powertrains. It has been a great relationship, and they continue to provide an excellent service that we pay for, to provide engines for the four cars.”

November 2022: Honda decides on F1 U-turn, but Red Bull has already moved on

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB18

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Honda started entertaining second thoughts about its decision when the 2026 regulations started moving in the direction the Japanese giant was pursuing, featuring sustainable fuels and a larger percentage of hybrid power. “From Honda’s point of view, the new F1 regulations for 2026 with the combustion engine being fifty percent and the electrical parts being fifty percent are very attractive to both Honda and Honda Racing”, Watanabe explained. “The direction with the carbon-neutral fuel is very good for us as well, so that is basically why we decided to officially return to Formula 1.”

Honda’s first talks about 2026 were still with Red Bull, with advisor Helmut Marko visiting the manufacturer in Japan. “But when we withdrew from Formula 1, Red Bull decided to establish its own power unit company. That is why there was basically no room to work together”, Watanabe recalls from those meetings.

By the time Honda changed its mind, Red Bull had already invested millions into its own powertrains project, setting up a dedicated unit at its Milton Keynes campus. There was no turning back, as Verstappen points out: “A few years ago, they said ‘we’re going to stop’, so then Red Bull set up its own engine division. Unfortunately, once you’re already in the process of building a whole engine yourself, you can’t really work together anymore.”

An interesting detail, however, is that Honda and Red Bull did discuss one other option for 2026. “During our regular conversations we discussed the option of Red Bull doing the internal combustion engine themselves and us doing the electrical parts”, Watanabe revealed. “But that wouldn’t have been easy at all if they only made the ICE and we did the electrical parts, so in the end we found out that it was impossible to collaborate under these conditions.” 

It would have been a gamble to combine an internal combustion engine produced in the UK with electrical parts from Japan, including the complexity of working on two different sides of the world. Another risk was that neither side would have had full control over the end product. For example, if the combustion engine fell short, that would indirectly reflect on Honda, while the Japanese engineers had no control over it.

May 2023: Honda lands on Aston Martin deal as Red Bull gets help from Ford

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR23, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB19

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

The result is that both brands will go their separate ways in 2026. Honda eventually did a deal to work with Lawrence Stroll’s hyper ambitious Aston Martin squad, although Watanabe reveals that multiple teams showed interest.

“In the first part of the process there were only conversations between Honda and Red Bull,” he recalled. “The discussions with other teams started after we officially registered ourselves with the FIA as a power unit supplier for 2026. That was in November 2022. Then some other teams contacted us, as they were interested in working with Honda. We talked to those parties and made a decision.”

Asked how many teams approached Honda, Watanabe responded: “I cannot give you the exact number, but several teams. With some of those we’ve only had contact once and some others we’ve met several times.”

Meanwhile, Red Bull Powertrains signed a technical partnership deal with Ford, with the OEM’s contribution described as its expertise on “battery cell and electric motor technology as well as power unit control software and analytics”, with the engines still being built and developed in Milton Keynes.

It is an immense task, although Horner thinks Red Bull’s first-ever in-house power unit programme offers opportunities as well. “From a future protection point of view, we didn’t want to be in a position where we were with Honda, where suddenly a change in management or head office making a decision that F1 doesn’t suit them anymore – and you haven’t got an engine,” he said.

“With this route we have way more control of our own destiny. The investment that we’ve made is for the long term, it’s not a short-term commitment. I think other than Ferrari, we’re the only team that has everything fully integrated for 2026 with the same ownership on one site. And for us that’s invaluable.”

Horner added: “I’ve got no illusions that there won’t be challenges in 2026. I mean, to hit the ground running with a competitive power unit against Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda – they’re all massive manufacturers with decades of experience. We’ve got three years of experience, but we’ve got a huge amount of passion. We’ve got some great people, we’ve got the facilities, we’ve got great partners, and we’ve got the attitude that served us so well in the 122 race wins that we’ve achieved so far. 

“It would be so rewarding when we add to that number with an engine that’s been designed, built and manufactured here in Milton Keynes.”