Franz Tost has suggested that the Honda board was divided over their impending exit from Formula 1. The engine supplier to Red Bull and AlphaTauri remains active behind the scenes but will do so for Red Bull Powertrains, the future engine company of the Austrian racing stable . According to Tost, opinions at Honda were divided.
“Of course I can’t speak on behalf of the management or the board of Honda, but there were a number of people or managers who really wanted to stay active in Formula 1”, the AlphaTauri team boss reveals in conversation with, among others RacingNews365. “On the other hand, there were people who just wanted to go in a different direction.”
From 2022, Red Bull will take over the Honda engine, although the Japanese will remain actively involved in maintaining the power source during the first year. In the end, the Austrian racing stable has to take over the engine program entirely. “Honda is leaving F1, but there will continue to be a close collaboration between Honda and Red Bull for the foreseeable future,” said Tost.
Due to the victories and success of Honda and Red Bull in 2021, there is already talk in the corridors about a future return of the Japanese engine supplier in the premier class of motorsport. “Whether that will happen, I don’t know yet,” says the team boss of Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda. “For now they have decided to leave the sport. In the future we will see what will happen.”
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