Pressure & Capacity Are Honda’s Key Concerns in Red Bull Talks
Honda and Red Bull have now held talks at two Grand Prix and are expected to come to a decision over whether the former will supply the latter with engines by the end of the month.
Honda returned to Formula One in 2015 with McLaren, but the British outfit left them in favor of Renault at the end of 2017, and Honda now provides engine to Toro Rosso, Red Bull’s sister team.
Red Bull is also using Renault engines but has long been critical of their performance. The French manufacturer has given Red Bull until May 31 to decide on its engine supplier for next year: Renault or Honda.
But the decision isn’t only up to Red Bull, and Honda has identified two major factors that will play into its own choice. One is the pressure and responsibility that would come with working with a big team like Red Bull.
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“We are very positive. To deal with Red Bull is a really big thing for Honda, because they are a top team,” Masashi Yamamoto, Honda’s General Manager of Motorsports, told Autosport. “This gives us a sort of pressure as an engine manufacturer.”
Additionally, concerns were raised over capacity. “Can we really deal with Red Bull’s size?” Yamamoto asked, noting that the company would have to at least double its F1 part manufacturing output.
However, he isn’t worried about cooperation issues with Red Bull the likes of which they experienced with McLaren. “I don’t think we’ll have the same situation,” he said. Meanwhile, team principal Christian Horner stated Red Bull would be watching both Honda and Renault with great interest as they both bring new engine updates to the Canadian Grand Prix.
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