Honda's departure from F1 too soon? 'Difficult to apply to street cars'

It has been known for some time that Honda will leave Formula 1 at the end of this season. Red Bull Racing regrets the choice, especially considering the success this season. In 2022 Honda will still help to develop the Red Bull engines, but after that they will leave F1 completely. Honda has other plans for the future.

"It is difficult to apply Formula 1's internal combustion engines to street cars, but on the other hand it can be done with sustainable fuels and certainly with the battery that we are now using in F1 engines", explains Honda chief Yasuaki Asaki in conversation with the Dutch branch of Motorsport.com.

From next year F1 will switch to the more sustainable fuel E10. "In that respect, the time has come when Formula 1 could well become a laboratory for the mainstream market again. I am therefore hopeful that the direction taken can move the world forward."

For now, Honda is focusing on the championship with Max Verstappen and Red Bull, but the sport has provided many benefits anyway. "We want to win the championship and be the best in the world, but Honda is also a place to train engineers."

"We've been able to progress so quickly because we're in F1. The theory that you can develop things on the test bench doesn't quite hold true. It's different to racing in the sense that there it's much more tested for reliability and durability. The fact that we were able to introduce the new battery so quickly shows that", says Asaki.