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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has again hailed the impact of Honda on his team’s domination of F1 which has now seen it outstrip the Japanese manufacturer’s halcyon days with McLaren.
McLaren partnered with Honda for five years from 1988-1992, winning constructors’ and drivers’ championships in the first four of those seasons, with Ayrton Senna claiming three titles and Alain Prost one.
McLaren’s reunion with Honda for three seasons from 2015 was a disaster, leaving the Japanese manufacturer on the brink of exiting F1 until the Red Bull family opted to join forces, initially with Toro Rosso in 2018 and then Red Bull itself a year later.
Max Verstappen achieved three victories that year before going on to win a hat-trick of drivers’ titles from 2021, whilst Red Bull has won the last two constructors’ championships.
Although Honda effectively departed F1 at the end of Verstappen’s initial title triumph in 2021, its system has remained in the back of the RB18 and RB19 over the past two years as power unit regulations are currently frozen until 2026. A small number of staff continue to oversee its maintenance.
Red Bull broke all records this past season, winning 21 of 22 grands prix to set a new percentage mark of 95.45, surpassing the previous best of 93.75 set by McLaren in 1988. Forty-nine of Verstappen’s 54 grand prix victories have been with Honda, comfortably eclipsing the 30 from Senna.
Evaluating Red Bull and Verstappen’s success with Honda over the past few years, Horner said: “McLaren had turned down Honda, Sauber had walked away from a deal with Honda, and so strategically, for us, it seemed sensible to place Honda with Toro Rosso, and then it gave Red Bull Racing the ability to evaluate versus our current partner (Renault).
“In June of 2018, we had a crossroads where we had to make a decision, and based on the commitment that we could see, based on the resource and the spirit that Honda was applying, it was obvious to us that the Honda route was the right route to go.
“Since the first race in 2019 when we scored a podium on our debut, we then had three victories that year, bringing Honda back into the winner’s circle.
“We’ve now achieved more victories for Honda than McLaren during its championship days (54-42), and Max is the most-winning Honda driver ever.
“It’s been a great partnership. They’ve been a big part of what we’ve been able to achieve the last few years and particularly this year.”
Franz Tost, whose 19-season tenure as boss of Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri came to an end at the last race of the campaign in Abu Dhabi, claims his team’s “biggest step” was in 2018 when it signed a deal with Honda, and “became this Honda works team”.
Tost feels his team and Red Bull have had the last laugh on the critics back then who derided the decision.
“I think nearly the whole paddock smiled about this,” said Tost. “McLaren people came to me and said we were totally crazy to work together with Honda.
“I said, ‘Gents, wait! We will talk about this in about five years’. But it didn’t take five years, it (success) was much earlier. It was clear it was the right decision.
“It was a fantastic cooperation with Honda, I liked it very much, and also a successful one.
“In 2019 we had two podium finishes, if I remember right, one with Daniil Kvyat (third) at the Hockenheimring and one with Pierre Gasly (second) in São Paulo.”
The following year, with the team renamed AlphaTauri, Gasly won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
