Red Bull’s engine partner Honda announce they will leave F1 at the end of 2021 season

Honda have dropped a bombshell on Formula One by announcing they will quit the sport at the end of 2021.

The news, delivered at a press conference in Tokyo, will leave Red Bull and sister team AlphaTauri without an engine supplier. However, they are committed to finding an alternative partner.

More broadly, the retreat is a warning shot to Formula One, as it seeks to stay on its feet in the middle of the coronavirus emergency while simultaneously fighting for relevancy in the car industry’s move towards greener technology. 

Red Bull’s engine partner Honda will leave Formula One at the end of the 2021 season 

But, on the plus-side, manufacturers coming and going is a recurring theme of grand-prix racing.

Honda cited a ‘once-in-100-years period of great transformation’, referring to the march towards electric cars. They added that they are pursuing ‘carbon neutrality by 2050’.

However, some insiders wonder whether Honda might have stayed had they enjoyed greater success.

Honda’s F1 managing director Masashi Yamamoto said it was focusing on cost-cutting 

The Japanese manufacturers returned to F1 in 2015 and endured a difficult spell with McLaren before supplying the Red Bull teams, winning five races.

Now Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault, with whom Red Bull had an acrimonious split in 2018 and 2019, remain as engine suppliers.