Red Bull announced at the end of the 2020 season that they would stop using Honda engines from 2022, thus saying goodbye to the Japanese after three successful courses that ended Max Verstappen as world champion for drivers.
Over those three years, they achieved 16 victories, plus Pierre Gasly’s triumph at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, as the ‘younger brother’ of the Austrian team also enjoyed the performance of the Japanese engine.
As part of that separation, Red Bull and AlphaTauri would carry power units built by themselves at the Milton Keynes factory, which would be ready from next May or June, as indicated by Helmut Marko, the brand’s adviser.
The plant would bear the name of Red Bull Powertrains , and the fundamental requirement was that the engines be frozen in order to achieve performance that would allow them to be in the battle for victories.
However, just weeks before the start of the 2022 season, the four-time world champion team confirmed that they would continue to carry Honda power units until at least 2025.
In the presentation of the RB18, the Honda logos no longer appeared on the rear wing, as it did in 2021, but there was a Red Bull sticker. The only reference to the Japanese was shown on the back of the car, where an HRC (Honda Racing Corporation) badge was sported.
But despite not having so much prominence in the car, their union is still strong, as AlphaTauri chief executive Franz Tost says, who says that the decision made by the Milton Keynes team was the right one, returning with Honda.
When asked about the operation of the entire structure of the power units and the relationship that Red Bull had with the Asian manufacturer, he said: “I think it has been a success to stay with them, because these power units, with all the elements that they have, it’s really hard to put together.”
“All the suppliers, or many, are in Japan, and therefore Red Bull Technology’s decision was the right one to do it with Honda in that country, everything stays there, without changes,” explained the Austrian.
“I must say it was a smooth transition from last year to this year, in our [AlphaTauri] team we haven’t had any negative impact, everything is working quite well, with good communication with the Honda people,” continued Tost.
“Some of them were already with us last season, so this decision has been absolutely correct,” he repeated.
Rumors from the paddock say that Porsche plans to enter Formula 1 in the short to medium-term future, with some people suggesting that it could be through a tie-up with Red Bull from 2026 as its driver.
The head of AlphaTauri confirmed that if the older brother makes this change, they would also use the same engine, and it would be difficult to see what they did in 2018, when they carried the Honda engines a year earlier to develop them.
“One of the most important pillars for Red Bull, when Mateschitz bought Minardi, is to take advantage of synergies,” said Tost. “And the second thing is to train the young drivers, plus we always want to have the same power unit, whatever it is, so we can help each other.”
“Years ago, it was a nightmare, when we had a different engine, because we had to make our own gearbox, and now we can take parts from Red Bull Technology, which makes all the work easier and cheaper, so it is necessary to be united,” he said.
The Italian team entered the world championship a season after Red Bull, in 2006, with Cosworth V10 engines, so they were the last to use this configuration, while the Austrians had a Ferrari V8.
It was not until 2014, with the introduction of the hybrid era, that the two teams shared the same supplier, Renault , something that lasted until 2018, when the Faenza team switched to Honda, a campaign before Red Bull.
