Honda has reiterated its ambition to sign off from Formula 1 with a world title after being boosted by the reliability that it demonstrated through the 2020 season.
Honda won three races in 2020, two with Red Bull Racing and one with AlphaTauri, and powered the senior Red Bull team to second in the Constructors’ Championship.
It marked Honda’s highest finish in the championship in 16 years.
Honda suffered a handful of in-race problems, most notably affecting Max Verstappen at Monza and Mugello, but was the only one of the four engine manufacturers to avoid exceeding its allocation of components.
Mercedes had to breach its allocation for Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and Williams’ George Russell, both Haas drivers had to take on new Ferrari components in the closing events, as did the Renault-powered McLaren of Lando Norris.
“One of our key positives was that we learned from previous seasons, improving our reliability so that we used just the three PUs allowed per driver, taking no PU-related penalties,” said Honda chief Toyoharu Tanabe.
“Overall, we had hoped to challenge for the championship title with Red Bull, but we could not match Mercedes over the year and so it’s clear we need to work very hard to improve our package.
“As previously announced, at the end of next season, Honda will pull out of Formula 1. But our goal remains the same: to win the world championship.
“Along with our partner teams we will now be working very hard during what will be a very short off-season in the search for more performance, so that we can come back stronger.”
Red Bull and AlphaTauri have yet to communicate their engine plans for 2022 and beyond.
