Red Bull In A Pickle


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A small bombshell dropped by Honda yesterday has put Red Bull in a bind.

Honda dipping in and out of Formula One is a risk teams took when using their engines. They left the sport in 2008 when Brawn racing picked up their team for $1 and went on to win the title. Honda returned in 2015 and after 6 seasons will call it quits permanently this time.
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The two classiest, nicest looking cars on the track in my opinion now have to find a new engine supplier pronto. This is not going to be easy given the time they have. A year plus a few months is not that long unless they settle for what is available already which I hope they don't.

The first time they pulled out was for purely financial reasons as they couldn't justify the spend when the world was in a financial crisis. How can you tell your employees that you are letting them go but will still be outlaying millions on an engine for Formula One. This time it is different as their company objectives and goals have changed.

The goal is to spend on alternative energy resources and to be carbon neutral by 2050. The formula one engine no longer fits their brief even though the company benefitted with research and development at the highest level. Many companies are far ahead of them if they are only starting out now which I am sure is not the case. The cost of supplying engines to Red Bull and Alpha Tauri can now be spent on something much greener.

This leaves red Bull racing and Alpha Tauri in somewhat of a pickle as who will supply them engines for 2022? There aren't that many choices and a new supplier would not be able to supply something in time. We are talking less than 18 moths from now and this would be sizeable project for any engine manufacturer.

Mercedes would be the obvious choice as they have proven to have the top power unit for the last decade. The only problem is they will be supplying 4 teams already and that means they are maxed out for now. Possibly they could supply another team and that is if they really want to as Red Bull is their closest rival on the track.

Ferrari has space to supply one more team as they already have 3 teams under contract. The problem is that the Ferrari power unit is not very good and suddenly Red Bull would be going backwards. This is definitely a huge gamble and not an option for the team even being 16-18 months away. There is no guarantee Ferrari can fix the problems they are having and will still be behind everyone else even when they do get things right.

Renault used to supply Red Bull and they left each other under a cloud of disagreements ending like a bitter divorce. They may be forced to work together as the current Concorde agreement states if a team doesn't have an engine then one of the current engine manufacturers has to supply. Renault is the only choice they have right now which to be honest is not such a bad thing as they are coming right. Renault is the one team this season that has got their act together and who knows in a seasons time they should be fighting for podiums regularly.

A new engine supplier is still an option for Red Bull even though the time lines are very tight. Porsche who were thinking about dabbling in formula one is part of the VW Group along with Audi. It may take them slightly longer to get something worthwhile, but long term the information they gather would only help the success of their road cars. Look at where Mercedes are now as they are the leading car manufacturer in the world and most of it is down to their involvement in formula one. BMW is another option not to rule out as they have been involved before. Teaming up with the likes of Red Bull may be appealing to their marketing side plus they need to somehow get back to competing against Mercedes on and off the track.

It is sad to see Honda disappear but this is understandable with justified reasons. Red Bull will have no choice but to go the Renault route or even possibly start off their own engine production in a joint venture with the VW Group or the VW Group supply on their own accord. I would say the joint venture makes the most sense for both companies sharing costs and developing a power unit that can compete at the highest level.



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2 comments
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Wow.

These racing cars are so pretty. I really do love this racing game but always scared to see it happen, the accidents can be so horrific.

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Honda is a giant when it comes to building engines and for sure, it will hit the F1 teams with the decision they have taken.

Not just the F1 cars, Honda has made a big name even for building Cars and Bikes and here in India, Honda is still number one supplier of Motor Bikes.

Hopefully, the void will be filled by other competitive engine builders.

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