Engine Supplier Honda Will Quit Formula 1 At the End of 2021

The Red Bull Formula 1 team has to look for a new engine supplier again. Honda will quit Formula 1 at the end of next year.

The Japanese have been supplying the engines to Max Verstappen’s racing stable since last year.

With a Honda engine in the back of his car, Verstappen has won four races for the time being; three last year and this season at Silverstone. Pierre Gasly recently gave Honda a victory. The French AlphaTauri driver, which also uses Japanese engines, won the Italian Grand Prix at Imola.

Honda returned to Formula 1 in 2015 as an engine supplier to McLaren. The power units were initially unreliable and not fast enough either, but Honda managed to improve them.

After the break with McLaren at the end of 2017, the Japanese started supplying engines to Toro Rosso, Red Bull’s “sister team” now called AlphaTauri. A year later, Honda also became the engine supplier to Red Bull.

Before that, Verstappen drove with Renault engines, but the relationship between the French manufacturer and the Austrian team was cooled by the necessary problems with the engines.

However, with Honda as a partner, Red Bull is unable to overthrow Mercedes in Formula 1. Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas have the strongest and fastest engines. Hamilton is heading for his seventh world title this season almost unthreatened.

Currently, there are three other engine suppliers in Formula 1: Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault.