Honda: Winning the clear aim with stable platform Red Bull

Honda chief Masashi Yamamoto believes Red Bull will provide the Japanese engine manufacturer with a “stable platform” to start winning Formula 1 races in 2019. 

Ahead of the French Grand Prix, Red Bull announced it would end its 12-year association with Renault to join forces with Honda from next season after growing frustrated by the lack of progress made by its current suppliers. 

Honda endured a torrid spell as it returned to F1 with McLaren in 2015, suffering three years of poor performance and unreliability before both parties divorced. A switch to supplying Red Bull’s sister team Toro Rosso has brought about promising strides this year, leaving Honda optimistic it can hit the ground running with the senior squad in 2019. 

“The first three years with McLaren after the return for Honda were very, very important, because it was three years of learning, learning back what we had lost from the gap that there was between the last time and returning to Formula 1,” Yamamoto explained. “We’re very appreciative of those three years. 

“When we joined this year with Toro Rosso, we really from the beginning realised it was such a beautiful and very good collaboration between us, and we were ready for our next step. Our next step is to win races and to win races, we decided that getting together with Red Bull is the right choice.

“One very big reason for us to also join with Red Bull, for Honda to work in motorsports we’re here to win,” he added. “We need a base, a stable base, to win races in Formula 1. So for that reason we think that Red Bull is the best choice to have a stable platform to win in Formula 1. 

“I have spoken several times with Dr Helmut Marko, and when discussing with him we have really realised that we are all on the same platform in that Red Bull is pure racing and that is what Honda is as well. So we are both pure racers aiming to win races in Formula 1. By joining with Red Bull, it is our opportunity to show our potential and to grow.”

Honda’s progress has been reflected in delivering Toro Rosso with a pair of successful engine upgrades so far this season, the latest of which – dubbed ‘Spec 2’ – arrived in Canada, providing the Faenza-based outfit with a step forward in performance which the Japanese manufacturer felt was not far off matching Renault. 

When asked if he felt Honda can win the world championship in 2019 given the rate of its progress this season, Yamamoto replied: “It’s a very difficult question! Of course it’s a difficult question and we want to do our best. We need to work in collaboration – with [Honda F1 technical boss Toyoharu] Tanabe as well, all of us – and that’s our goal, but it’s a high goal.”