Red Bull-Honda deal seems to mean an engine development freeze

New deal, but with a twist

Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko announced earlier today that Red Bull would continue with Honda engines after 2021. This despite Honda disappearing from the sport as an engine supplier. Red Bull were very clear about their plans to stay longer in Formula 1: the preference had been for a long time to keep the Honda engines, so as not to become a customer team of Ferrari, Renault or Mercedes.

There was one important hook to this deal for Red Bull: the engine regulations must freeze when the team continues with the Honda engines. Red Bull itself does not have the facilities to further develop the power source. Now that Marko has confirmed that Red Bull will continue with the Japanese brand's power unit for longer, it seems that the freeze is also coming.

The supporters and opponents

In principle, freezing those regulations is not a negative thing. Formula 1 is working hard to cut costs and the engines are the most expensive components of the car. But Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault must agree to the freeze. Especially for Ferrari, which seemed to have the worst engines in 2020, they mustn't be too far behind when the development freeze is initiated.

The freeze in the engine regulations means that there will be no major upgrades to the engines that currently exist until new ones will be available in 2026. Toto Wolff of Mercedes seems to support the idea of ​​a freeze, as the team now far ahead when it comes to engines. Renault and Ferrari do not seem to support the idea for the time being. The freezing of the engines will not continue? Then Red Bull seems to be leaving F1 if we are to believe Marko.

This article was written and originally published by Bonne on the Dutch edition of GPblog.com.