Red Bull and Honda said on Thursday they will work together in the wider world of motorsport after the Japanese manufacturer pulls out of Formula One as an engine supplier at the end of this season.
The collaboration, announced ahead of the Turkish Grand Prix, will include young driver programmes and other racing activities as well as marketing and branding.
Red Bull have set up a powertrain company to use Honda’s intellectual property from 2022 to provide power units for their main Red Bull Racing Formula One team and Italy-based AlphaTauri.
Honda will assemble the units and provide trackside engineering support and race operation assistance from Japan until Red Bull take over all engine manufacturing and servicing from 2023.
Thursday’s statement said British-based Honda Racing Development employees will transfer to Red Bull Powertrains in Milton Keynes.
“I’m glad that we have reached an agreement with Red Bull Group covering all the details of the IP rights for the F1 Power Unit and in this way, Honda can still contribute to the motor racing world,” said Honda’s Koji Watanabe.
“We are now working hard to strengthen HRC’s (Honda Racing Corporation) structure so that it can ensure our fans will be able to continue to enjoy Honda’s role in all types of motorsport.”
Honda said all four-wheeled motorsport activities would come under the umbrella of HRC, the company that runs its motorcycling activities.
“Red Bull’s collaboration with Honda has been enormously successful and while our relationship in Formula One is changing, neither of us wish for that to be the end of the story,” said Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.
Red Bull is challenging Mercedes for both Formula One championships, with Dutch driver Max Verstappen two points behind Mercedes’ seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen has won seven races to Hamilton’s five this season.
Reuters
