Christian Horner refutes Honda’s 2026 difficulty claims amidst impending Red Bull switch
Christian Horner rejected HRC's head Koji Watanabe's claims of Honda's struggles ahead of the 2026 power units.
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Christian Horner (via IMAGO), Honda's Logo (via Honda)
Red Bull’s monumental success with Honda’s power units will go down in the history of Formula 1 as one of the greatest partnerships. However, the Japanese giant parted ways with Milton Keynes leaving the team to create their own engines alongside Ford in 2026. With the regulation changes of the 2026 season, Honda Racing Corporation Chief, Koji Watanabe talked about development struggles which Christian Horner has now refuted.
Honda’s engine enabled Red Bull to dominate a majority of the ground-effect era in Formula 1. Regardless, Milton Keynes partnered up with Ford to create engines with the regulation changes of the 2026 season. Hence, amidst the ongoing development, Koji Watanabe claimed that the development was not easy and the Japanese giant faced difficulties in the same.
The 2026 development? It’s not easy, we’re having difficulties.
Koji Watanabe told planetf1.com
Christian Horner, aware of Honda’s way of development refuted the bold claims from Watanabe. Horner highlighted that developing the engines was a ‘great challenge’ due to the giant suspending and restarting the project for Aston Martin. The Briton revealed the company just lost time but still had a lot of strength left. The 51-year-old raised confidence over the possibility of Honda developing a competitive unit by 2026.
It’s a great challenge. They suspended the project and then restarted it. Maybe they lost some time, but they are a very capable company and have many strengths. I’m sure they’ll have a competitive power unit starting in 2026.
Christian Horner said, as reported by formulapassion
Christian Horner labels Red Bull Powertrains a ‘big challenge’
Red Bull will take on the mountainous task of creating their own powertrain units alongside Ford from the 2026 season onwards. Christian Horner assessed the challenge in the upcoming season and reckoned that the team could always use some more time. Horner reckoned that building the engine from scratch was difficult but was still certain. Moreover, the 51-year-old highlighted that he was unaware of the rival team’s development as Red Bull took on a ‘big challenge’.
You always want more time, but it is a big challenge for us, producing our own engine from scratch, a start-up company, but we’re doing well, Of course, you never know what your opponents are doing, it is a big challenge, but for us, it is the right move.
Christian Horner noted
The 2025 season is still the priority for Red Bull as the team might lose out on both championships if the chassis fails to perform well. The team will also take some learnings for the 2026 season as the ground-effect era comes to an end. The coming few years will be extremely crucial for Milton Keynes as Max Verstappen might consider leaving the team if they do not perform well.
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Aditya Pandya
(1499 Articles Published)