“Things are looking very positive,” Helmut Marko gives interesting update on 2022 Red Bull engine


“Things are looking very positive,” Helmut Marko gives interesting update on 2022 Red Bull engine

Red Bull's RB18

Red Bull Racing unveiled their new RB18 on February 9 earlier this month after a much-awaited wait from Formula One fans, and specifically Red Bull Racing fans.

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Fans are stoked about the car which is going to be recently crowned world champion Max Verstappen and fellow teammate Sergio Perez’s ride. However, it is to note that Honda who had started to supply engines for Red Bull’s junior team, Toro Rosso in 2018 and further supplying their engines to Red Bull Racing, is no longer going to be their engine supplier.

They had announced it at the onset of the 2021 Formula One season that Red Bull has terminated the contract.

It is not that Honda’s influence won’t be seen in the Red Bull engines anymore. The power unit of Red Bull will now be named after the racing team itself with Milton Keynes’ crew taking over the power unit.

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Former Austrian professional racing driver and current advisor to the Red Bull Racing team, Helmut Marko told Austrian publication Kleine Zeitung, “Things are looking very positive.

“The proportion of synthetic fuel will be increased from five to ten percent this year. That has already required a lot of changes.”

“But Honda has only given promising feedback. Honda is no longer on the car, but the Japanese are helping us.”

Helmut Mark braces up for a challenging 2022 season

Red Bull Racing running on Honda engines
Red Bull Racing running on Honda engines

Honda and Red Bull’s relationship began in 2018 with Red Bull terminating their contract with former engine supplier Renault and switching to the Japanese-based engine supplier. They initially let Honda supply the engines for their junior team, Toro Rosso, until letting them supply for their main team too in 2019.

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Marko also mentioned how they knew it very well that they couldn’t compete for the championship with a Renault engine. Red Bull recruited Honda’s former F1 chief Masashi Yamamoto in a consultancy position for their very own engine division. They also reached the Mercedes headquarters for recruiting last year.

Red Bull Racing’s team principal Christian Horner was spotted saying last year, “Today’s key leadership team appointments demonstrate our strong commitment to those goals and we certainly benefit from our campus being located in the UK where we have access to a huge wealth of engineering talent.”

“Working with our new Technical Director, Ben Hodgkinson, and alongside key personnel retained from Honda Racing Development, each of the senior personnel announced today to bring a wealth of experience, expertise, and innovative to the Red Bull Powertrains program and provide us with the strongest possible technical platform for the future.”

What is certain is that it is going to be interesting to see Red Bull Racing try to expand their very own engine division.

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Also Read: George Russell claims he can have a ‘massive impact’ and boost Mercedes engineering growth