Several parties can take Honda activities off Red Bull’s hands

Red Bull Racing is currently considering transferring the development of the power unit to a private party from 2021. Tom Coronel previously suggested that Mugen might be interested in taking over the Honda business. It now appears that there are more hijackers on the coast. Motorsport Italy speaks of two other parties with whom the Austrians could do business.

In addition to the factory in Sakura (which employs more than 1000 engineers, ed.), Honda has a department in Milton Keynes. While development is done in Japan, Honda’s tangible operations are carried out in Great Britain. When Red Bull takes over this factory from the Japanese, they only have to find a party with the technical expertise to continue the Honda project.

Red Bull’s idea is to acquire the Honda factory in Milton Keynes and hand over the development of the hybrid v6 power unit to a specialist such as Mario Illien. Illien once set up Ilmor Engineering with Roger Penske and Paul Morgan. Ilmor builds racing cars and could take the Honda activities off Red Bull. But Red Bull has an option in its home country that seems more likely at first glance.

The Austrian AVL

Not only Ilmor Engineering would be a suitable candidate. Another option is to engage AVL, a Graz-based consultancy and research institute for cars. Among other things, they make the test benches for Formula 1. Although it would be easy for the Austrian team to establish a cooperation with the party from their own country, it seems unlikely that the Austrians will do business with this party.

Firstly, because AVL already cooperates with Ferrari and because special things have happened with Honda in the past. For example, a slight controversy arose when the Japanese managed to make a huge step in development in 2019. It was suggested that AVL was dealing with this, potentially spillovers of the Ferrari project could not be excluded. The consultancy probably does not want to burn its hands again here.

Second, there are several reasons that this would be a risky path for the Milton Keynes team. If the current engines were to remain in use until 2025, a collaboration could be fruitful. But it is precisely because of the departure of Honda that the engine regulations of 2025 are under scrutiny.

Is the Red Bull worth the investment?

If these engine regulations are brought forward, and a different engine model will be used in 2022, for example, this would not benefit a collaboration between Red Bull Racing and AVL in the short term. The costs would simply not outweigh the benefit of developing your own power source. For example, the uncertain future of the motorcycle regulations forms another piece of the puzzle in the complicated issue that Helmut Marko and Dietrich Mateschitz are currently debating. (Photo: Red Bull Content Pool / Getty Images)