Japanese vehicle manufacturer Honda announced its return to Formula 1 at a press conference this Wednesday As a supplier of engines and other types of equipment in 2026 For the Aston Martin team. “Honda has decided to enter the Formula 1 world championship as an engine supplier from the 2026 season,” said Honda president Toshihiro Mibe, who sees the company’s involvement in racing sports as a “research tool” for its development. products.
Honda will leave Formula 1 in 2021 to focus its resources on decarbonizing its models, although it will maintain its technical maintenance agreement with Red Bull until 2025, with which it supplied engines until its final withdrawal and which it will reverse with Aston Martin Aramco. withdrew. Honda team.
The Japanese manufacturer joined Formula 1 in 1964, shortly after launching its first vehicles. Having made its debut in the category in 1968, the company returned as an engine supplier to teams like Williams and McLaren in 1983 after a hiatus, and together they would leave a significant mark on the competition for the next ten years.
The bursting of the financial bubble in Japan caused Honda to withdraw from Formula 1 again in 1992. He would return to the sport for eight years as a team in 2000, until the financial crisis caused by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers forced the company to rethink. again his activities. It would return to the forefront of competition as McLaren’s engine supplier in 2015, and four years later it would begin its alliance with Red Bull, to which it continues to provide technical assistance despite leaving as technology supplier in 2021.
Honda plans to return to Formula 1 (F1) from 2026. new regulations on the construction of power unitsMibe pointed. F1 aims to be carbon neutral by 2030 and 100% carbon neutral fuel will be mandatory from 2026. In a separate statement from the company, it added that this change “aligns with Honda’s direction on carbon neutrality and is critical to the development of future technologies to achieve this.” Seeing F1 as a great laboratory for the company, Mibe says, “The technology and knowledge gained on how to win a race is directly related to the competitiveness of mass production of electric vehicles in the future.”