Red Bull Honda for 2019

[Composite Guru]

Hot off the press.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/headlines/2018/...

[kambites]

I look forward to seeing Redbull Honda slaughter Mclaren Renault in next year's constructors' championship.

[Andy S15]

Mclaren must be absolutely stting themselves.

I look forward to the drama.

[BrettMRC]

World class tantrum on the cards if it doesn't come good...

[andycaca]

aaaaand it's the french grand prix this weekend. what a homecoming gift for redbull to give renault

[suffolk009]

Given the PR st that Horner rained down on Renault can we begin to imagine what he's going to say about Honda? (That is unless Honda suddenly produce a reliable 1000bhp+ engine.)

I think Renault must have effectively refused to continue to supply RB, what other possible sane reason could they have for switching to Honda at the end of this technical cycle?

[kambites]

suffolk009 said:

I think Renault must have effectively refused to continue to supply RB, what other possible sane reason could they have for switching to Honda at the end of this technical cycle?

I'm guessing they, like Mclaren when they were with Honda, are being given a hefty financial incentive. I think it's also fairly clear from the respective performances of Toro Rosso and Mclaren that the gap between Honda and Renault really isn't all that wide anymore.

[Composite Guru]

BrettMRC said:

World class tantrum on the cards if it doesn't come good...

Honda are based in MK not far from Red Bull. That can only be a good thing for communication, parts supply and testing.

Everyone saw Horners tantrums with Renault but never knew what was going on behind the scenes. Two sides to the story.

Looking forward to good things from them in 2019.

[ralphrj]

suffolk009 said:

I think Renault must have effectively refused to continue to supply RB, what other possible sane reason could they have for switching to Honda at the end of this technical cycle?

I'm pretty sure that when Renault bought the Enstone team back from Genii, Bernie did a deal that obliged them to supply Red Bull with an engine.

Based on the performances so far this year, I'm not convinced that the Renault is any better than the Honda now.

[Composite Guru]

suffolk009 said:

Given the PR st that Horner rained down on Renault can we begin to imagine what he's going to say about Honda? (That is unless Honda suddenly produce a reliable 1000bhp+ engine.)

I think Renault must have effectively refused to continue to supply RB, what other possible sane reason could they have for switching to Honda at the end of this technical cycle?

Red Bull have the option for engines until the end of 2020. Renault cant refuse them from what I'm aware.

[Vaud]

Interesting that they are allowing RB to keep the Aston Martin branding.

[andburg]

Honda and Red Bull already had close ties albeit in MotoGP so i expect that will have played a part in the deal.

[sidney bung]

I would think red bull are paying like a customer team. They are keeping the Aston Martin in the team name. I doubt Honda would bankroll free engines and not have the name in the team.Also once bitten twice shy with the massive cash input.
Mclaren and honda were unlucky in that they started from scratch with high expectations and years of same engine regs. A lot of the pain has been taken now and only 2 more years of these regs. I expect them to do better because the car is better than
anything Mclaren could have made.
Honda deserve this for the Mclaren/F1 gobs/press and public (like here) battering they got.

[AJB88]

Composite Guru said:

Honda are based in MK not far from Red Bull. T

A massive 4.1 miles would hope communication would be very good.

[ukaskew]

kambites said:

it's also fairly clear from the respective performances of Toro Rosso and Mclaren that the gap between Honda and Renault really isn't all that wide anymore.

This. RB quite cleverly put the Honda PU in the sister team this year, really gave them good options going forward. Presumably from the data already gathered this year it's pretty clear to them that the Honda unit is nowhere near as bad as McLaren suggested (which given where McLaren are with a Renault engine now is pretty clear).

The McLaren chassis and aero must be quite a dog.

[Dr Z]

ukaskew said:

kambites said:

it's also fairly clear from the respective performances of Toro Rosso and Mclaren that the gap between Honda and Renault really isn't all that wide anymore.

This. RB quite cleverly put the Honda PU in the sister team this year, really gave them good options going forward. Presumably from the data already gathered this year it's pretty clear to them that the Honda unit is nowhere near as bad as McLaren suggested (which given where McLaren are with a Renault engine now is pretty clear).

The McLaren chassis and aero must be quite a dog.

The Honda unit this year is a big improvement over last year. The problem was McLaren lost confidence that Honda will improve as much this year as projected.

[suffolk009]

Composite Guru said:

BrettMRC said:

World class tantrum on the cards if it doesn't come good...

Honda are based in MK not far from Red Bull. That can only be a good thing for communication, parts supply and testing.

Everyone saw Horners tantrums with Renault but never knew what was going on behind the scenes. Two sides to the story.

Looking forward to good things from them in 2019.

I thought the Honda design office was in Japan? And that had been one of the problems in the McLaren years.

[suffolk009]

I think the biggest single problem all the teams will have with the engines is that from about the mid/end of next year, there is unlikely to be any real development of the engines for the 2020 season. They'll all be working away on the 2021 engines. So whatever Honda bring to the table by mid/late 2019 is what they'll have for the remainder of the 2019 season and all of 2020.

[Composite Guru]

suffolk009 said:

Composite Guru said:

BrettMRC said:

World class tantrum on the cards if it doesn't come good...

Honda are based in MK not far from Red Bull. That can only be a good thing for communication, parts supply and testing.

Everyone saw Horners tantrums with Renault but never knew what was going on behind the scenes. Two sides to the story.

Looking forward to good things from them in 2019.

I thought the Honda design office was in Japan? And that had been one of the problems in the McLaren years.

The design office maybe but the production facility is in Winterhill MK. Ideal location for those quick reaction modifications.

[Jasandjules]

What they put the engine in the sister team to test it and now it is going in the senior team? The sly dogs, no-one saw that coming....