Helmut Marko has revealed that Honda will continue to supply Red Bull's engines until 2025, ahead of the introduction of the new formula in 2026.

Up until now it was thought that while Red Bull - and Alpha Tauri - would use Honda engines this season, from 2023 the Austrian company's new powertrains division would take over.

However, Helmut Marko has revealed that Honda will continue to build the engines at its Sakura facility, with Red Bull given added support courtesy of the new intermediary company that has been set up with former Honda boss, Masashi Yamamoto at the helm.

All of which flies in the face of the original intention which was for Red Bull to take over the IP of the Honda power unit in the run up to the introduction of the new formula.

"We have now found a completely different solution to the one originally envisaged," Marko tells Austrian magazine, Autorevue. "The engines will be manufactured in Japan until 2025, we will not touch them at all.

"That means that the rights and all these things will remain with the Japanese," he adds, "which is important for 2026 because it makes us newcomers."

Of course, this will add to the speculation linking Red Bull to the Volkswagen Group which is considering entering F1 as a manufacturer, with both Audi and Porsche rumoured to be looking to partner with an existing team.

Marko suggests that Honda's change of heart was largely influenced by Max Verstappen's title win.

"In the course of our ever-greater successes, a certain rethinking has taken place among the Japanese," says the Austrian. "Also that they could of course use the battery knowledge for their electrification phase.

"It was initially planned that they would only make our engines for 2022, but now it has been decided that this will continue until 2025, which is of course a huge advantage for us. This means we only have to make fine adjustments and calibrations.

"The plant will go into full operation in May/June," he adds. "The final decision to do it ourselves was conditional on everything being frozen. Because otherwise we wouldn't have had a chance with this complex thing."

All of which gives credence to theories put forward by our esteemed Max Noble, who suggested that setting up 'third party', joint operations was a possible means of circumventing any budget caps, despite the best efforts of the FIA's financial forensics team.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Thomas, 31/01/2022 22:20

"Honda's change of mind is current with the times we live in. If you enjoy success, then they think it is entirely due to their engine prowess. They are mistaken. Red Bull has the best tuned(*any engine) chassis and a young ambitious driver, MAX who has learnt his lessons from the Renault era times driven by a Chief and owner, Mr. Marko. The Chief has enjoyed F1 success before for several years. They were a winning team and had the confidence to grab a win when they could.! Once RB signs with VAG, then I am afraid that Honda will either quit or go back to their unwinning ways for several years until the return of the bruised Red Bull!
This is the ego problem. When I win, it is because of me. They do not think that a team wins in spite of you!
Note that Honda's success is not an underestimate here! "

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2. Posted by kenji, 28/01/2022 23:44

"The sooner the VAG guys sign on the better. That plus new rules governing B teams and their on track adventures that pay lip service and real time advantages in order to support their PU supplier. That has to be outlawed sooner rather than later, that is if we are to regain some semblance of open competition."

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3. Posted by Spindoctor, 28/01/2022 22:52

"Max Noble - Australia's answer to Mystic Meg!

This also suggests that RBR's 2026 "DIY" motor might well actually be courtesy of VAG. Maybe all those staff poached from Mercedes were as much to affect Merc as to actually make any motors ..."

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4. Posted by Superbird70, 28/01/2022 16:38

"To paraphrase. "Noble, you magnificent *******, I read your BOOK!!"- Helmut Marko 2021"

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5. Posted by Defiant, 28/01/2022 16:29

"This is great news for F1 and a smart move for Honda. Especially when you consider they got none of the benefits of their last efforts in F1 when Braun got all the accolades.
Keeping a high level engine manufacturer in will keep the competition much more interesting for us to watch too.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure RB and AT would have been ok under their own steam but this actually offers more hope for more team battles."

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Honda to continue supplying Red Bull's engines until 2025

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