Honda’s Journey in F1 – Success With Red Bull, McLaren, and the Road Ahead With Aston Martin

What is the first automobile brand that comes to your mind when you hear the word reliability? It’s either Toyota or Honda. These Japanese brands are known for their commuter segment and reliable cars. However, that’s not the reason why these brands are famous among petrol heads and enthusiasts. Cars like the Honda NSX, the Civic, and the Integra are the reason behind Honda’s successful image. What many don’t realize is all this technology can be rooted back to Honda’s F1 journey.

Honda is arguably one of the biggest names in the Automotive industry and the same was the case in F1. Every time Honda entered F1, it was successful to some extent and then left with a tonne of knowledge. With the Japanese GP coming up thick and fast, we’ll look at Honda’s Journey in F1 through the year, their success and failures, and what the future holds for the Japanese Manufacturer in the future. 

Honda first entered the F1 championship in 1964 as a constructor and engine supplier and won their first race the following year. However, it would soon come to an end when Honda withdrew from the championship after the 1968 season. 1983 marked the return of Honda to Formula 1 after 15 years of absence from the sport. But this time, as an engine supplier. The 1983-1992 era can easily be called the golden era for Honda in Formula 1. 

Honda’s glorious yet turbulent partnership with McLaren – Ayrton Senna’s rise v/s Fernando Alonso’s “GP2” downfall

Honda was the official engine supplier for Williams, Lotus, McLaren, and Tyrrell over this decade, during different periods of time. Up until 1987, Honda delivered engines to Williams with whom they enjoyed many moments of success, including Honda’s first Driver’s World Championship in 1987 at the hands of Nelson Piquet. The 1987 Williams had the iconic 1.5L 167E V6 engine from Honda. 

1988 marked the start of Honda’s iconic partnership with McLaren, which continued till Honda backed out of F1 once again in 1992. McLaren won the Constructors title every year with Honda engines between 1988-1991. This was the era when Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost were driving for McLaren. Ayrton Senna won the 1988, 1990, and 1991 titles, whereas Alain Prost took the 1989 title. This campaign also featured the season where McLaren won 15 out of the 16 races in 1989 with the Honda engine. Honda withdrew at the end of 1992. 

Honda did make a comeback again between 2000- 2008, but it wasn’t that successful as they supplied engines to the BAR team. The team was renamed Honda in 2006 as the highlight of the season remains Jenson Button’s first victory at the Hungarian GP. Honda then exited F1 at the end of 2008 following the global economic crisis.

With the new V6 Turbo Hybrid engine in play, Honda made a comeback to F1 in 2015. The Japanese engine supplier decided to partner with its most successful partner from the past, McLaren. Hopes were high for Honda as they built the best Turbo V6 engine back in the 1980s. However, the stint with McLaren from 2015 to 2017 was a failure, to say the least.

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Honda was the least competitive engine with many reliability issues. Fernando Alonso arguably retired early from F1 after a frustrating spell with the McLaren-Honda team. Fernando Alonso’s “GP2 engine” radio message at Honda’s home race is still one of the most iconic representations of frustration over radio. Honda and McLaren called it a day after the 2017 season as Honda moved on to Toro Rosso. 

Honda’s Championship-winning Formula 1 alliance with Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen

After the disappointment of McLaren, Honda became the engine supplier for Toro Rosso for the 2018 season. After showing signs of improvement and great potential, Red Bull, Toro Rosso’s parent team, also signed with Honda for the 2019 season. The 2019 Honda engine was the best one yet in the Turbo Hybrid era and just second best to Mercedes. All the signs were pointing toward a positive trajectory. Improvements were made in 2020, but 2021 was the year when Honda really stepped up.

The 2021 Honda Power Unit was the best in the field. While Mercedes was there or thereabout, Honda did nip the German supplier by a bit. 2021 was Of Course the year when Max Verstappen won his first title by beating Lewis Hamilton. It was the first time after 1991 that Honda won a driver’s title as an engine supplier. However, rumors had already been going around Honda wanting to leave F1 and despite entering talks with Red Bull to continue supplying the engine, Honda backed out of F1 in 2021.

Amid all these talks, Max Verstappen won his second title in 2022 with the Honda Powertrain. That too at Honda’s home race in Japan. Yet, Honda wasn’t ready to enter F1 with Red Bull. However, the Red Bull Powertrain was set up for the future. Meanwhile, Honda has agreed to provide support to Red Bull until the end of the 2025 season. 

Honda’s F1 future 2026 onwards – Power Unit Supplier for Aston Martin

Despite announcing an exit from F1 in 2021, Honda signed a deal with Aston Martin in 2023 to become their engine supplier from 2026 onwards. New engine rules and regulations are being introduced for the 2026 season that will see a shift in the power ratio shared between the internal combustion unit and the electrical system. More emphasis on electrical power has been announced.

Formula 1 advises that Honda Racing Corporation President Koji Watanabe said, “We believe that the technology and know-how gained from this new challenge has the potential to be applied directly to our future mass production electric vehicles.” The entire world is moving toward electrification of vehicles and the new engine rules of F1 sit well with Honda’s vision for the future.

However, Honda did approach Red Bull with the will to come back in F1 first but was refused as Red Bull had already set up the RBPT (Red Bull Powertrain) and invested loads of resources into it. However, Aston Martin soon came up as a leading team with an enormous interest in F1. Lawrence Stroll has the vision of making Aston Martin a title challenger and whilst doing that while being a customer team isn’t impossible, it is harder. Hence, it made sense for Aston Martin to make a move and sign with engine specialists Honda. 

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It’s unknown as to what Honda will bring to the table for the 2026 season but Honda is here to stay in F1, at least for the foreseeable future.