Red Bull team boss Christian Horner claims the new partnership with Honda won’t dissolve into the same rhetorical back and forth as seen with Renault.
The Milton Keynes outfit endured an increasingly fractious relationship with the French manufacturer as the V6 hybrid era was dominated by underperformance and poor reliability preventing the team from battling for wins and championships.
Finally, it ended with the two sides separating at the end of last year, and now, working with Honda, Red Bull claim a similar decline in relations isn’t possible because of a key difference in how they work together.
“We were a customer [of Renault],” Horner told Autosport. “In fact, we were a customer who had booked a first-class flight and then had to fly economy. It meant for a lot of frustration.
“With Honda, we can speak of a true technical partnership, with truly shared responsibility.”
At the start of 2019, reports emerged of trouble with the development of this year’s engine including an inability to test the performance at high revs because of vibrations.
Those concerns were brushed off, however, and the Red Bull boss is confident of the progress being made.
“Honda is having a strong winter,” the Briton declared. “Red Bull Technology has been working with Honda for 12 months, so we’ve had a good look at their evolution and they’re on a good way.
“They are committed to their concept and, for the first time since returning to F1, they have not had to start again for the new season.
“Of course it depends on the strength of the competition, but on their own data, Honda has made some nice progress.”
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There does still remain one area where even Horner admits weakness exists, reliability.
“It’s a daunting task to tackle 21 race weekends with only three engines,” he commented. “We would prefer constant development, even if it means we would have to put up with one or two penalties.
“We’ve seen in the past year that depending on the circuit, those penalties can have minimal consequences.”