Honda still giving everything in their last season: ''That shows their character''

Shockwaves were felt when Honda announced their departure from F1 last year. Red Bull Racing have used engines from the Japanese company since 2019, and AlphaTauri's predecessor, Toro Rosso, had those engines as far back as 2018. The goal was to become World Champions, but Honda only have just one year left to do so.

The 2022 engine from Honda

''We have not reached our goal of becoming champions yet. Achieving that goal is our passion and we are bummed that we haven't achieved it yet. It was therefore important that we moved the engine from 2022 to 2021 because the people in the factory are motivated to improve performance. We are working hard for Honda's last season in F1,'' Masashi Yamamoto told Globo.com.

''Before the pandemic, it was already the plan to introduce this engine in 2021, but due to all the difficulties caused by the lockdown, we decided to postpone it to 2022. When it became clear that Honda would be leaving F1, we reversed that decision. It was a tight schedule, but we wanted to use our knowledge before we left the sport'', says Toyoharu Tanabe.

Honda helps Red Bull on the road

After 2021, however, Red Bull will have to do it themselves. Then the Honda engines will be taken over by the Austrian team and they will make their own engines for Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri. Development is not required, due to the freeze on development on 2022 engines. Honda will not leave Red Bull completely to their own devices, however.

''They will help us put together the engine in 2022. They have helped us a lot to make this possible and to continue with these engines. The fact that they are still putting so much energy into developing an engine for one year shows their character'', concludes Christian Horner.