During their time with McLaren, Honda couldn't help but pick up rediculous amounts of penalties in a single weekend, let alone the full season. Since Honda joined forces with Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) and then Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, the number of penalties has decreased. This season there's a clear goal: no penalties.
Red Bull Racing are hunting down Mercedes this year. A season without penalties will put them on the right foot. Christian Horner indicated earlier in the week that they aim not to use the fourth engine during the year. Now Honda and Max Verstappen confirm this target.
"That is our schedule [three motorcycles per season] and that is why we try to follow that assignment without penalty," Masashi Yamamoto told Motorsport.com.
"We were quite competitive in the last half of last season and then reliability was very good. So we tried to continue that reliability with more power. That was our focus."
If an additional power source is nevertheless used, Verstappen is confident that this will happen with the right reason. “Last year we only used new engines if they provided more power. This involved major upgrades. That is the only reason for us to use extra engines and we hope to do so this year without penalties."