Red Bull will not have works team label, says Honda

Honda say that they will not identify Red Bull or Toro Rosso as their works F1 team for 2019.

Honda says that "it doesn't make sense to assign labels to its customers.

Red Bull announced this morning their decision to partner up with Honda for the 2019 season.

There was reasonable expectation that Red Bull would have works team status - similar to McLaren, in their three years with Honda.

McLaren had exclusive use of Honda's engine, but Honda have since made it clear that they want to present equal status as they prepare to provide their engine to a second customer for the first time in 11 years.

"From a manufacturer's point of view, it doesn't make sense to identify either team as either works or customer, as current regualations oblige us to supply the same power unit to all our teams," said Honda's motorsport boss Masashi Yamamoto.

Yamamoto confirmed that there won't be a change in Toro Rosso's relationship with Honda because of this new deal.

He also said that this partnership will not distract Honda from achieving their 2018 goals.

"We expect mutual transaction between the teams and Honda within the regulations," Yamamoto said.