[ad_1]
Red Bull’s engine partner Honda will leave Formula 1 in late 2021.
The move leaves Red Bull and Alpha Tauri with the need to find an engine supplier and the sport with just three engine companies.
Honda said the move was the result of the auto industry’s transformation away from internal combustion engines.
They are pursuing “carbon neutrality by 2050” through “future power and power unit technologies, including battery technologies and fuel cell vehicles.”
Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner said: “The changing focus within the auto industry has led to Honda’s decision to redeploy its resources and we understand and respect the reasoning behind this.
“His decision presents obvious challenges for us as a team, but we have been here before and with our strength in depth we are well prepared and equipped to respond effectively, as we have shown in the past.
“Our joint approach for the rest of the 2020 and 2021 seasons has not changed, to fight for the victories and challenge the championship.”
Red Bull said they “remained committed to the sport for the long term” after signing a new contract with F1 last month.
“We look forward to embarking on a new era of innovation, development and success,” said Horner. “As a group, we will now take our time to evaluate and find the most competitive power unit solution for 2022 and beyond.”
Honda returned to F1 in 2015 and passed three difficult years with McLaren, with engine and car not at a competitive level.
The company switched to Red Bull junior team Toro Rosso for 2018 and then Red Bull itself for 2019, and has won a total of five grands prix in the past two years.
However, Red Bull and Honda have not been able to offer a constant challenge to world champions Mercedes, who this year have increased their margin on the field.
Honda president Takahiro Hachigo said that despite the decision, he would go ahead with plans for a new power unit design by 2021, with the goal of competing for the world championship.
What is Red Bull doing now?
Honda’s decision puts Red Bull in a difficult position when it comes to supplying engines.
Mercedes will already supply three teams alongside its factory team in 2021 – McLaren, Racing Point and Williams – and has previously refused to supply Red Bull with engines.
And Red Bull parted ways with Renault on harsh terms at the end of 2018, after years of the team criticizing the company for underperforming its engines.
Renault, which re-entered F1 as a constructor in 2016, is unlikely to be particularly interested in resuming that partnership, despite the pair winning four consecutive world titles in doubles together from 2010-13.
Ferrari supplied engines to Haas and Alfa Romeo in addition to its work team, and the last time it supplied engines to a Red Bull brand team with Toro Rosso in 2013.
However, Ferrari’s engine is the least competitive on the field this year after a series of rule clarifications, while Renault’s appears to be the next best after Mercedes. So Red Bull may feel that its best option is to try to repair relations with the French company and seek a supply agreement with it.
What are the ramifications of F1?
Honda’s decision underscores the complex and sensitive situation F1 faces when considering how to move forward with a new engine formula from the mid-2020s.
The engines currently used by the sport are 1.6-liter turbo V6 hybrids, an architecture arrived at after consultation with global automakers, and which have produced a revolutionary breakthrough in efficiency.
The thermal efficiency of an F1 engine, its rate of conversion of energy from fuel to power, is more than 50%, compared to just over 30% for a typical road car engine.
However, what Honda described Friday as “a once-in-a-100-year transformational period” for the highway car industry has seen a major shift in focus to electrification as manufacturers seek to respond to the challenge. of the climate crisis. and legislative restrictions on internal combustion engines in many countries.
Electric technology is not well developed enough to power a vehicle at F1 speeds for the duration of a grand prix, so the sport’s highest category cannot be fully electric.
F1 bosses are looking for other ways to reduce carbon consumption within current hybrid technology and aim to promote synthetic fuels, which capture carbon from the atmosphere in their manufacture and are therefore carbon neutral.
But Honda’s decision raises the question of how long other manufacturers will consider that hybrid engines, which mix internal combustion with electrification, will remain relevant to them as a method of promotion and development, although Mercedes insists that hybrid engines will be a important part of your journey. – Range of cars in the coming years.
