Rumor: Honda to help Red Bull through 2025 (Update)

This rumor is upgraded to ‘fact’ today.

Masashi Yamamoto, who was effectively Honda’s F1 chief, is leaving the Japanese company this month to set up a consultancy that will work with Red Bull to help support its efforts.

Speaking about his plans, he said that the idea was for him to act as a point of contact between both Red Bull and Honda to ensure the relationships remain strong between both parties.

“We have established a new company,” he told Autosport in an exclusive interview. “We want to do something that makes people happy, and if we win in F1, then fans will be happy with that.

“We’ve signed a contract with the company at Red Bull Powertrains. The company has me, at the request of Red Bull’s Christian Horner and Helmut Marko, to support them.

“It’s a contract between companies, so it’s difficult to speak about details, but as one of the members of Red Bull Powertrains, I will undertake work that will help them.”

“If, for example, they want to understand Japanese culture and Honda’s culture, and have a closer and better relationship with Honda, we can support it. Basically it’s a bridge between Red Bull and Japan.”

Honda will reportedly be involved with Red Bull until 2025 despite claiming to leave the sport at the end of 2021. The engines developed by the Japanese manufacturer took Max Verstappen to his maiden F1 title victory in December 2021.

Verstappen and Red Bull gave Honda a lovely parting gift at the end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix — their first title victory with the team in F1. Honda was all set to leave at the end of the year, but new reports by Racingnews365 claim otherwise. Their sources claim that Honda will supply the team with engines until the end of the current hybrid era i.e. 2025, but the Japanese company’s name will not be featured on the cars.

The decision will not affect Honda, the same sources claim, as the Japanese company was to leave the sport due to climate change concerns. Since engine development in the sport cannot take place until 2026, Honda has no additional expenditure for R&D, and whatever expenditure does occur can be invoiced to Red Bull.

Key Honda figure rumored to stay with Red Bull in 2022

Masashi Yamamoto, director of Honda Motorsport, is rumored to switch from Honda to Red Bull sometime in 2022, continuing his involvement with F1. The Japanese motorsport executive will remain involved in an advisory role with the team from Milton-Keynes. The news comes from Racingnews365, which claims multiple sources have confirmed the same.