Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has suggested the Austrian drinks giant will leave Formula 1 if their Honda partnership doesn’t result in success.
The Milton Keynes outfit will end a 12-year association with Renault at the end of this season and switch to the Japanese manufacturer believing their engines offer more potential for the future.
While many have been sceptical, given the problems faced by McLaren the past three years, it appears this is a final attempt by Red Bull to become a genuine championship-contending team again.
“We are pleased with the great cooperation with Honda for the coming years, and if this cooperation, for whatever reason, does not work as expected, then Red Bull will leave F1,” Marko told Speedweek.
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Of course, this is not the first time that Marko has put Red Bull’s future in doubt, but at a time when all teams are wondering exactly how the sport will look in 2021, with new regulations both sporting and financial expected, the situation is a little more serious.
This year, junior team Toro Rosso took on Honda after McLaren opted to switch to Renault, however, the Austrian revealed the Japanese company wasn’t sure about their own future this time last year.
“We really had to convince the Japanese in intensive conversations that they could resume with us to start,” he claimed.
