Honda Motor Co. has announced it will withdraw from Formula One at the end of the 2021 season.
The announcement leaves both Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Alpha Tauri searching for a new engine supplier.
“Honda will work together with Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri to continue competing with its utmost effort and strive for more victories all the way to the end of the 2021 season,” Honda officials said in a statement.
Christian Horner is Team Principal for Red Bull Racing.
“As a team we understand how difficult it has been for Honda Motor Co. to reach the decision to step back from Formula One at the end of the 2021 season,” Horner said. “The shifting focus within the automotive industry has led to Honda’s decision to re-deploy their resources and we understand and respect the reasoning behind this. Their 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 proven in the past.
“Whilst we are disappointed not to continue our partnership with Honda, we are enormously proud of our joint success, delivering five wins and 15 podiums for both Red Bull owned teams and we thank everyone at Honda for their extraordinary efforts and commitment.”
Horner is comfortable with the team’s plans moving forward.
“Our joint focus for the remainder of the 2020 and 2021 seasons are unchanged, to fight for victories and challenge for the championship,” he said. “As a signatory to Formula One’s latest Concorde Agreement, Red Bull Racing remains committed to the sport in the long term and we look forward to embarking on a new era of innovation, development and success. As a group, we will now take the time afforded to us to further evaluate and find the most competitive power unit solution for 2022 and beyond.”
Led by Team Principal Franz Tost, Scuderia AlphaTauri will also begin the search for a new power unit.
“We certainly respect the reason behind Honda’s decision to focus on environmental initiatives and to strive for the realization of carbon neutrality, everybody at Scuderia AlphaTauri wish them well in reaching all their goals and to have a successful future ahead,” Tost said. “We sincerely want to thank Honda for the fruitful cooperation, we really enjoyed every day we’ve been working together. It won’t be easy to find an engine partner like Honda but, of course, we will start looking at all possibilities to find the best Power Unit solution from 2022 onward.”