Horner and Tanabe on fifty races with Honda power unit: 'Extraordinary effort'
Published on 24 August 2021 by Bryan van Berlo
At the upcoming Grand Prix weekend at Spa Francorchamps, Red Bull Racing will be racing with a Honda power unit for the fiftieth time. Several successes have already been achieved since the start of the collaboration in 2019. Christian Horner, Team Principal of Red Bull Racing, talks about the partnership with the Japanese engine manufacturer prior to the race in Belgium: “Our relationship with Honda has grown from strength to strength since we started working together at the beginning of the 2019 Formula One season. We are enormously proud of our joint success to date, delivering 11 wins and 32 podiums from 49 race starts. Spa will mark our 50th race together and this is a great moment to reflect on what we have achieved so far, build on that success and also thank everyone at Honda for their extraordinary effort and commitment, which has enabled us to be in the position to fight for a championship this year.”
Toyoharu Tanabe, Technical Director of Honda Racing, also looks back on the collaboration with a satisfied feeling. He hopes to end the season on a high note: “In a short space of time, we have achieved some great results in this hybrid era, such as our first win in Austria in 2019 and first pole in Hungary that same year, as well as our first double podium with Red Bull in Bahrain 2020 and, most recently, the fact we have taken five consecutive wins so far this year.”
“Honda had been back in Formula One for four years before joining up with Red Bull and we had not even scored a podium finish, so we have come a long way to be now fighting for the championship together with Red Bull. This is down to a lot of hard work and excellent communication from everyone at Honda and Red Bull. On the eve of our 50th race, I want to thank Red Bull Racing for their open and fair approach and the trust they showed in us, sharing the same goal. In addition, we must not forget the contribution from the drivers in that time.”
“Another key factor was our excellent cooperation with Scuderia Toro Rosso back in 2018, which laid the groundwork for partnering both teams as from the following year and we are proud of what we have achieved so far. There are only around a dozen races still remaining for Honda’s F1 project and we will all be pushing as hard as possible to finish this adventure on a high.”
Contest Belgian GP: win a 1:4 scale model GP Belgium 2019 helmet!
