Red Bull Honors Honda with Farewell After Remarkable F1 Success

Red Bull Racing has formally bid farewell to Honda as a works power unit supplier, marking the end of a partnership that delivered four consecutive Drivers' and Constructors' World Championships. The team held a special ceremony at its Milton Keynes factory to honor the Japanese manufacturer's pivotal role in its dominant era from 2021 to 2024.

Why it matters:

The Honda-Red Bull alliance represents one of the most successful and transformative engine partnerships in modern F1 history. After Honda's public struggles with McLaren, the collaboration with Red Bull not only revived the manufacturer's reputation but also broke Mercedes' stranglehold on the sport, fundamentally shifting the competitive order and proving the value of a tightly integrated team-engineer relationship.

The details:

• The farewell event celebrated a partnership that yielded 47 Grand Prix victories and 33 pole positions, with Max Verstappen securing three of his four titles with Honda power.
• Key figures from both organizations, including Red Bull team principal Christian Horner and Honda Racing Corporation President Koji Watanabe, were in attendance to commemorate the journey.
• The relationship began in earnest in 2019 as a customer arrangement before evolving into a full works partnership for the 2021 season—the year Verstappen clinched his first championship in a dramatic Abu Dhabi finale.
• Despite Honda's official withdrawal from F1 as a works entrant at the end of 2021, it continued to supply and develop power units for Red Bull and AlphaTauri through the 2025 season under a support agreement.

What's next:

While this chapter closes, the technical legacy continues. Red Bull has established Red Bull Powertrains to take over the intellectual property and development of the Honda-derived power units from 2026 onward, with support from new partner Ford. The knowledge and personnel transferred during this period are seen as the foundation for Red Bull's long-term ambition to become a fully-fledged constructor. Honda, meanwhile, is preparing for a formal works return in 2026 with Aston Martin, setting the stage for a potential future rivalry with its former champion partner.