Red Bull’s future participation in Formula 1 is likely dependent on keeping Honda and Max Verstappen beyond 2021.
The Anglo-Austrian team only teamed up with the Japanese manufacturer at the start of last season, but already there are questions as to whether Honda will stay in F1, having only signed a one-year extension to their initial partnership deal.
As for Verstappen, though he signed a new three-year contract until the end of 2023 at the beginning of January, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has already hinted at an escape clause should Honda leave.
And if both of those scenarios were to come true, that would put company founder Dietrich Mateschitz in a predicament.
“The reality is Red Bull makes an energy drink worldwide,” team boss Christian Horner said in Netflix’s new Drive to Survive series.
“Formula 1 is a platform to promote and advertise it.
“If this new relationship with Honda doesn’t work, if we lose Max Verstappen, then you’d have to question Red Bull’s long-term commitment to Formula 1.”
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So just how likely is it Honda could trigger those dominoes by opting not to continue in F1?
“We are speaking to Red Bull about the continuation after 2021,” Honda F1 boss Masashi Yamamoto told Motorsport.
“But the other thing we have to consider is the whole car industry is facing a very difficult situation because of electrification.
“Many companies have to invest a lot, so we have to kind of think about the business side and how efficient we can run the program.
“That’s the point.”
Naturally, that raises the question of whether Honda could head over to Formula E, where most manufacturers are gathering.
“Obviously we are interested [in FE] and we are continuing and collecting the information,” Yamamoto added.
“But at the moment we just focus on F1 and we don’t have any plan to participate in Formula E.
“We have to focus on F1.”
Another key factor will be the continued cost of competing in F1, with talk of a development freeze coming in but so far not yet agreed.
“I think all the motor companies are under increasing pressure,” Horner told RaceFans.
“Therefore cost is a key question, I would think, in all the manufacturers’ minds at the moment, not just isolated to Honda. I think Renault, Mercedes and even Ferrari have got the same challenges.
“That’s a worry for Formula 1, particularly with the way the world market is at the moment in the automotive industry.”