Could Red Bull still team up with Honda? President breaks silence

10:03, 18 Jul

Updated: 12:33, 18 Jul

Co-author:Kada Sárközi

byHidde Korte

Next year, Red Bull Racing is set to race with an engine developed in-house for the first time, in collaboration with Ford. Over the past years, the team has achieved many successes with Honda, who will supply power units to Aston Martin next season. HRC's President, Koji Watanabe, addressed rumours about Honda's potential return to Red Bull.

In an interview with AutoSportWeb Japan, Watanabe was asked if Red Bull could use Honda engines again.

Watanabe resolutely answered: "That's completely impossible. Even if we had to do it now, it would be too late to make it for 2026. The chance is zero."

From next season onwards, Honda will team up with Aston Martin. The team also brought in top designer Adrian Newey, and Watanabe mentioned looking forward to the new partnership.

"Aston Martin has already made several requests to improve its competitiveness. We don't know if these requests came from Newey, but besides Newey, Andy [Cowell] also previously led Mercedes' engine department, so he has a good understanding of the engines."

Top designer Adrian Newey, currently working at Aston Martin

"It's an advantage for us to have someone on the car-development side and to be able to have the discussions. We have already received requests about the layout (of the engine), a group led by Tsunoda (Tetsushi, general director of Formula 1 engine units) from HRC is currently working together with Aston Martin."

Honda prepares for final departure from Red Bull

Slowly but surely, the end of the partnership between Red Bull and Honda is approaching. Watanabe shared the progress of the departure. "The official registration of the company (Honda Racing Corporation) was completed in February 2024. From that point, we started recruiting personnel, and in September last year, the transfer of the building from RBPT was completed, after which the first group of employees moved in."

Verstappen does not need to worry that Honda will show less commitment in the rest of the season. Watanabe already stated earlier that Honda will do everything to bring the season to a successful conclusion: "Honda changes nothing in its intention to go all out with Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls for the next twelve races."