Helmut Marko is very pleased with the renewed cooperation between Red Bull Racing and Honda. The Japanese engine supplier was to hand over the running of the powerplant to Red Bull Powertrains from 2023 onwards, but that decision has now been reversed. As a result Honda will remain responsible for the engine behind the scenes until 2025, the year before Porsche might enter the race.

Marko tells his story about the extended deal to the Dutch branch of Motorsport.com. The Austrian is happy that there has been a change in the Japanese's thinking. In the original plan Red Bull would have had to run the engines themselves from 2023 onwards. According to Marko, there would then be an additional problem with getting spare parts and their suppliers are mainly located in Japan.

Honda takes care of full delivery

Red Bull's advisor realises that this would not have been practical and says that otherwise it would have become a real problem for the team technically, logistically and also in terms of language. Now Honda will continue to arrange everything and the team will also get full delivery of the engines.

Marko explains that this is important for Red Bull's status as a newcomer in 2026. Then the team from Milton Keynes will almost certainly team up with Porsche. Being new and working with Honda behind the scenes until then, Red Bull has concessions compared to Mercedes, Ferrari and Alpine. For example, the engine arrives in a box and if there is anything wrong with it, only Honda people are allowed to work on it.

Preparing for 2026

Red Bull Powertrains was partly set up to manage the engines until 2026. Now that Honda will continue to work on the engine, the question arises: what will the engine department staff do until then? According to Marko, they are currently talking about three hundred employees and they are all working on the next engine regulations. He assures that if a new brand joins in 2026 the forces will be combined.

He also says that the new partner will be able to use all the facilities that Red Bull already has and that, according to the Austrian chief executive, is a big plus. A lot of preparations are therefore being made to meet the new 2026 engine regulations in the best possible way and Porsche would immediately be able to count on a top-class facility.