With Red Bull Racing set to switch from Renault engines to Honda engines ahead of the 2019 Formula 1 season, will they become a championship-caliber team?
In June, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing revealed that they will be ending their 12-year partnership with Renault following the end of the 2018 Formula 1 season, as they are set to switch from Honda engines to Renault engines for next season.
To allow McLaren to switch from Honda engines to Renault engines for this season, one of last year’s Renault-powered teams needed to give up their Renault engines for Honda engines for 2018. That team ended up being Scuderia Toro Rosso, the Red Bull Racing junior team.
With tensions growing between Renault and Red Bull Racing with all of this going on, it was widely speculated that the Milton-Keynes based team would, in fact, end up ending following Toro Rosso by signing with Honda and ending their partnership with the French manufacturer following the conclusion of the 2018 season.
With this speculation having been confirmed, where does this leave Red Bull Racing?
After Red Bull Racing won four consecutive constructor championships from the 2010 season through the 2013 season using Renault engines, things have not been at their best for the team, especially over the past two seasons.
Over the past two seasons, Red Bull Racing have experienced numerous reliability issues with their Renault engines, resulting in multiple retirements for both of their drivers, Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, in races that otherwise would have resulted in solid point-scoring efforts for them.
More from Formula One
- Formula 1: Top Red Bull threat identified for 2024
- Formula 1: Why the Max Verstappen retirement obsession?
- Formula 1: Williams ‘mistake’ hints Logan Sargeant’s future
- Formula 1 awaiting key confirmation for 2024 season
- Formula 1: The ‘championship’ Max Verstappen only leads by 3 points
Will Red Bull Racing’s switch to Honda propel them back up to a level on which they can once again compete to win the constructor championship and their drivers can compete to win the driver championship?
Given Honda’s failed stint at McLaren from the 2015 season to the 2017 season, it would be easy to discount Red Bull Racing from having much success using engines supplied by the Japanese manufacturer for next season. However, part of this failed stint had to do with McLaren, not just Honda, and the fact that their relationship with Honda was toxic almost from the time it started.
If Honda can provide Red Bull Racing with more pace and increased reliability like they are expected to, then the team should have no issues being a lot more competitive than they have been in recent seasons. As far as whether or not they will be able to compete to win races as often as the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport and Scuderia Ferrari drivers, that remains to be seen.
However, this being the case on a regular basis has simply not been possible in recent years, as Red Bull Racing’s victories have been few and far between using Renault engines. The fact that Honda are poised to even make it possible is a huge positive for the team moving forward, especially since their chassis is still considered arguably the best in the sport as it is.
Sure, this manufacturer switch is a gamble for Red Bull Racing, but it might just end up paying huge dividends.
Verstappen has proven that he can win races. He is 20 years old and has already won four races in his Formula 1 career. No other driver in Formula 1 has won a race before turning 21 years old. With a faster and a more reliable car, he can deliver even more victories and points for the team, especially with his overaggressive driving style seemingly being a thing of the past.
Pierre Gasly, the current Toro Rosso driver who is set to replace Ricciardo at Red Bull Racing next year, is in his rookie season, so it remains to be seen what he can do driving for a top-tier team.
But given the fact that he has dominated teammate Brendon Hartley at the Italian team this year, Gasly should not struggle to have success driving for Red Bull Racing. Plus, he is set to enter the 2019 season with one season of driving a Honda-powered car, a Red Bull Racing-associated car, no less, already under his belt, which certainly should not hurt him.
Mercedes will still enter the 2019 season as the favorite to win the constructor championship with Ferrari close behind. But Red Bull Racing will enter in a close third place. Don’t be surprised if they end up finishing the season higher.
Will Red Bull Racing be a serious contender to win the 2019 Formula 1 constructor championship now that they are set to use Honda engines as opposed to Renault engines? Will their two drivers, Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly, be serious contenders to win races and win the driver championship?