While closing a deal to become Porsche's blood partner, Red Bull still has to work with Honda for three years
Although the information emerged only 24 hours ago, the officialization of Porsche's agreement to acquire a 50% stake in Red Bull Technology is near. With the new partnership designed for 2026 and just waiting for the okay to move forward, Red Bull has another question to resolve: what will it do about Honda's current partners over the next few years?
The information about the agreement between Red Bull and Porsche has leaked out not as a rumor, but already as a done deal. Because of international antitrust legislation, the companies need authorization from the European Union and 20 other countries before they can go ahead. One of the countries sought, Morocco, mandates that any deal of this size that is proposed must be officially registered. So it has been done.
The document even indicated that August 4 was the chosen date to make the partnership official, since the FIA is expected to hammer out the technical guidelines for the next generation of F1 engines after the World Council meeting, scheduled for the 2nd. Porsche's entry into F1 is directly conditional on such guidelines, but it is known that both Porsche and Audi are in agreement with the path being taken in talks. Audi is still negotiating a possible purchase of Sauber.
According to the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, the two companies have an idea of how they will work on formatting the new engines, which will only be valid from the 2026 season. The internal combustion engines will be built even in the engine division that Red Bull has created in its factory in the English city of Milton Keynes by Red Bull Powertrains. Porsche, for its part, will design and produce the hybrid electric part directly from its domains, in the German city of Weissach.
The agreement also foresees a partnership in the construction of chassis for only one of the teams, Red Bull - but not AlphaTauri. There is a possibility that Porsche will also participate in the engine design of the RB17, the hypercar announced by Red Bull.
With that clear, two questions follow. One of them, the most emergency right now, is what to do with Honda. Although the Japanese factory decided to officially leave F1 at the end of last season, it still works closely with Red Bull. The Honda logos have come off the Red Bull car and the engine is no longer named after the brand, but it is still the same technology. Honda employees work with Red Bull, but now simply as a customer: the team pays dearly for the technology.
What is known, however, is that Honda has started to consider an official return to F1 with the 2026 rules and, of course, excited about last year's world title. Honda's expectation was to have a renewed partnership with Red Bull, since the relationship between the brands was quite close, but Red Bull itself had reservations because of last year's sudden exit. Thus, the deal with Porsche has been considered all along and tends to knock Honda out of the running.
According to the German vehicle, Red Bull offered Honda the opportunity to make AlphaTauri an official team, but the Japanese denied it, since they want to fight at the front of the pack and know that this is not the purpose of the energy 'B team'.
Strange relationship, then? It is necessary to remember that despite the freezing of the engines this year and which will last until 2025, it is natural that some adjustments will be made over time. Porsche will go current, objectively, in 2026. Even with Porsche owning 50% of Red Bull Technology in the coming months, Red Bull will be pushed by Honda engines for the next three years. There is no way out of it. But is Honda willing and supplying its best efforts to a team tied to a rival automaker? Hard to know. Red Bull has to resolve the issue to move forward at the risk of being less and less competitive in the next three years.