Honda – the engine supplier for Red Bull – has announced that they intend to leave Formula One at the conclusion of the 2021 racing season.
With Mercedes dominating the sport and the general overall worldwide trend toward non-combustion engine vehicles, it was a not-too-surprising move for Honda that will mean both Red Bull and Alpha Tauri will have to find an engine supplier not named Ferrari, Mercedes or Renault.
Honda dodged the Mercedes elephant in the room and claimed the move was a result of the transformation of the automotive industry away from internal combustion engines and their pursuit of “carbon neutrality by 2050” through “future power-unit and energy technologies, including fuel-cell vehicle and battery technologies”.
After short stints in Formula 1 from 1964-68 and 2006-08, Honda returned to F1 in 2015, first with McLaren, before switching to Red Bull’s junior team Toro Rosso for 2018 and then Red Bull itself last year. Honda won a total of five grands prix in the most recent five years.