'Honda shouldn't hide behind nice sounding excuses'

The announcement that Honda will leave Formula 1 after 2021 came as a surprise to many. Also for Michael Schmidt, motorsport journalist at the renowned Auto Motor und Sport. In his latest column, he mainly expressed his lack of understanding for the decision from the Japanese.

What Schmidt finds particularly problematic is the 'excuse' that Honda put forward before they left. The fact that the company wants to focus its finances on the development of electric streetcars is, in his view, not a valid reason. Formula 1, with its hybrid engines and climate-neutral fuels, is doing enough to keep sport technologically relevant, and financially it has also become more attractive at Honda's insistence.

"As a thank you, they are now leaving," says Schmidt. "It would only be a little more sincere if they did not hide behind nice-sounding excuses. Honda is leaving because they see no chance of overtaking Mercedes in the near future. It wasn't much different on the earlier instances when they said goodbye."

Renault not such a bad option

Red Bull now has a problem. Schmidt argues that the current engines are too expensive for a customer team to develop themselves. They will therefore have to look for a new partnership. Renault seems to be the most logical option, which does not even have to turn out badly. Schmidt, however, proposes another option.

"Maybe Red Bull should freshen up the contact with the VW group. There, CEO Herbert Diess recently stated that Formula E is actually a wasted effort and that it is better to drive with e-fuels in Formula 1. With Red Bull, Volkswagen would have the perfect partner to start with."