Red Bull wants engine freeze: 'Logical that it doesn't make sense for Ferrari'

As of 2022, Honda will no longer be officially active in Formula 1. That brings Red Bull into trouble. They may have to buy a power source from one of the other manufacturers or they may continue with the Honda engine under a different name. For the latter, however, there must first be a freeze on engine development.

"The sticky point has always been that Red Bull can’t commit to a full development program of that engine from 2022 and beyond", Marc Priestley says in his F1 Update. "So they want a technical freeze to enable them to use the engine, but not have to spend resources on developing it."

Possibility of catching up must remain

However, not everyone is a big fan of this freeze. "Mercedes, who have an advantage anyway in that area anyway, are quite happy to lock in that technology. Whereas for somebody like Ferrari it doesn’t make a lot of sense to lock that in right now, as they’re struggling."

"They’re looking for a means to balance performance. If one manufacturer falls behind when they lock in the technology, they’re looking for a means to allow them to catch up with tokens for example. I believe we’re very close to that happening, which will allow for that Red Bull Honda relationship to continue", Priestley concludes.