Honda Plans to Withdraw Itself from the Formula 1
The 2.5-year collaboration, the teams have bagged five victories in the races
Well, a shocking announcement has just come underway in the racing community. The Japanese motor company, Honda just announced its withdrawal from Formula 1 by the end of 2021.
Previously in 2015, Honda returned to the Formula 1 championship in partnership with Mclaren. The company’s main goals were to work on new power units that incorporated advanced energy recovery and hybrid tech.
However, the partnership did not really go well. Hence, Honda decided to split up and then collaborated with Toro Rosso in 2018. Later in the year, we saw a partnership between Honda and Red Bull, which is now about to come to an end.
This partnership between Honda and Red Bull has been quite interesting though. Within this 2.5-year collaboration, the teams have bagged five victories in the races. Their arrangement was set for renewal at the end of 2021.
However, Honda is not interested in pursuing this partnership anymore. According to Honda, the world of automobiles is currently undergoing a “once-in-one-hundred-years period of great transformation”.
The company representatives said in a statement, “Honda will work together with Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri to continue competing with its utmost effort and strive for more victories all the way to the end of the 2021 season”
Now that Honda has shown its intent to withdraw itself, F1 is left with three main choices of power unite supplying companies – Renault, Ferrari, and Mercedes. Based on the currently applicable rules, Renault would have an obligation to supply the units to AlphaTauri and Red Bull due to a fewer number of customers (unless of course, Ferrari or Mercedes agree to supply the engines).
At the same time, both AlphaTauri and Redbull have come into a Concorde Agreement. Hence, they are now bound to Formula 1 until the year 2025’s end.
In this regard, Christian Horner, the Red Bull boss had this to say, “We look forward to embarking on a new era of innovation, development, and success”
Nevertheless, the staunch fans of Honda and Formula 1 are still hoping that there would be a change of plans. Though, based on the current circumstances, it seems unlikely.
