How Honda went from “GP2” humiliation to F1 redemption with Red Bull

The beginning of the 2025 season might not have gone to plan at Pink Bull HQ, however it can nonetheless have fun its profitable partnerships with Honda in fashion at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix earlier than the 2 events go separate methods.

Marking the sixtieth anniversary of Honda’s first grand prix win – achieved by Richie Ginther on the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix – Pink Bull’s RB21 is donned in a one-off tribute livery sporting Japan’s crimson and white colors, and with Yuki Tsunoda the producer now additionally has a homegrown driver in one of many seats.

With a change to Aston Martin and considerably totally different engine rules on the horizon in 2026, this season does not simply mark the tip of Honda’s Pink Bull affiliation, but in addition that of its hybrid period redemption arc, going from humiliation with McLaren to 2 constructors’ titles with Pink Bull and 4 driver crowns with Max Verstappen.

Honda re-joined F1 as a producer in 2015, one 12 months into the hybrid period however earlier than it was really prepared to take action. And it confirmed. The model’s much-vaunted reunion with McLaren become an unmitigated catastrophe, each from a technical and cultural perspective.

Honda arrived in F1 with a particularly formidable and tightly packaged energy unit, a so-called ‘measurement zero’ idea, which introduced with it a spate of issues each when it comes to energy supply and reliability, requiring a whole re-think of the engine’s structure for subsequent seasons.

It was on the Japanese Grand Prix, 10 years in the past this 12 months, that the producer confronted its largest humiliation, when Fernando Alonso labelled the model’s energy unit a “GP2 engine” over the crew radio after Verstappen flew previous on the straight. Together with different inner conflicts and cultural variations, the incident contributed to the irreparable hurt to the connection, and whereas there have been marked indicators of progress from Honda, the McLaren deal was terminated after 2017.

“From 2015 to 2017, it was a really troublesome scenario for each Honda and the crew,” Honda HRC president Koji Watanabe remembers the Alonso incident. “It was a very irritating interval in our historical past, and there have been occasions when our relationship was strained. However I feel we have now grow to be stronger as a result of we overcame that frustration.”

However whereas McLaren determined to look elsewhere, Pink Bull was on the prowl for a works associate of its personal because it turned more and more annoyed with Renault. Given Honda’s preliminary struggles to rise up to hurry, Pink Bull’s choice to first change to the producer with Toro Rosso in 2018 and subsequently with the primary crew one 12 months later raised just a few eyebrows within the paddock.

“We have come to the conclusion that Honda are making good progress on each efficiency and reliability and we reached the conclusion that purely for technically-driven causes that is the appropriate transfer,” Pink Bull’s Christian Horner mentioned mid-2018, saying his operation and Honda had cultivated a “wholesome working relationship”, one thing which McLaren hadn’t succeeded in. Honda embedded itself a lot nearer with Pink Bull in Milton Keynes, whereas additionally inviting key personnel over to its Sakura plant in Japan.

Additional proof that each Pink Bull and Honda had made strides adopted quickly sufficient, with Verstappen taking third on the rostrum behind the dominant Mercedes within the opening 2019 Australian Grand Prix, dicing with the Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc for third within the championship.

A landmark win arrived in Austria later that 12 months, Honda’s first grand prix victory since its 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix triumph with Jenson Button. Talking to Autosport final 12 months, Watanabe mentioned Verstappen performed a key position in serving to the connection between the 2 events blossom, with one post-race gesture in Austria notably endearing himself to the proud Japanese firm.

“My largest reminiscence is him pointing on the Honda emblem on the rostrum in Austria on the Pink Bull Ring,” Watanabe mentioned. “I used to be standing underneath the rostrum and that was a really particular second for me. He thanks Honda lots in public, which is essential for all of the individuals working for Honda. It’s a excellent relationship. We belief one another and we’re proud to work collectively, so we are going to miss him sooner or later.”

Max Verstappen, Pink Bull Racing, 1st place, celebrates on the rostrum

Photograph by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Photographs

However whereas the Pink Bull-Honda went from power to power, the Japanese model introduced in late 2020 that it might pull out of F1 after 2021, citing prices within the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Solely after intensive talks the model agreed to proceed supplying engines to each Pink Bull groups underneath the HRC label. Honda was rewarded for sticking with Pink Bull with two producers titles in 2022 and 2023, even when the crew’s Japanese-built engines formally ran underneath the Pink Bull Powertrains label.

Its ultimate goal was supporting a homegrown driver from its Method Dream venture all the way in which to a top-line seat in Method 1, a aim which appeared set to fail till only a few weeks in the past. However Pink Bull’s choice to swap Liam Lawson and Tsunoda has lastly given the Japanese driver an opportunity of a lifetime, even whether it is suffering from pitfalls within the troublesome RB21.

Making the swap earlier than this weekend’s Suzuka race – in a Japanese livery no much less – will increase the strain on Tsunoda, but in addition provides to the enchantment for Honda, which is known to have upped its monetary dedication. “At Honda we’re dedicated to creating drivers and riders who can compete on the worldwide stage, and I imagine that one in all our main targets has been achieved,” Watanabe mentioned. “I’m really glad that Yuki is making his debut with a particular livery commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of our F1 victories, and I sincerely hope he achieves nice outcomes.”

Honda’s U-turn on leaving F1 got here too late to salvage its Pink Bull partnership, with the model heading to the formidable Aston Martin venture as a substitute. However 10 years on from that dreaded “GP2” humiliation, the Japanese large can lastly say it has come full circle.