Honda Racing Corporation president Koji Watanabe has ruled out a potential reunion with Red Bull should its Formula 1 powertrain collaboration with Ford prove fruitless.
The Milton Keynes-based squad is in the final year of its partnership with the Japanese giants, before it makes a full return to F1 with Aston Martin, for the start of the new regulations next year.
Red Bull will instead shift its powertrain operations, which has operated the pre-existing Honda engines from 2022, to a new era with Ford, making its first venture back into F1 since 2004.
However, the bar has been initially set low, with Red Bull’s now-ex-Team Principal Christian Horner saying it would be “embarrassing” if the collaboration was to outperform Mercedes at its early stages.
The American marque’s Head of Performance Mark Rushbrook has also had to shut down any notion that its partnership was dependent on whether Max Verstappen would stay with the team.
When asked by Auto Sport Web if there was an option to rekindle its successful partnership with Red Bull, Watanabe was firm in his response.
“That is not possible at all,” he said. “Even if we were asked to do it now, it would be too late to make it in time for 2026.
“The chances are zero.”
“Of course, that is a power unit for testing and not the final specification.
Honda and Aston Martin ‘working together’ towards 2026 goals
Watanabe also delivered an update on the current progress on its 2026 engine with Aston Martin.
He confirmed Honda has been testing in Britain and its homeland, and said the Silverstone-based squad’s in-house gearboxes are close to being fully tested in conjunction with the engine.
“We combine the latest products at the time with each other at the testing stage and we do tests in the UK and in Japan,” he said.
“We don’t do the tests at the same time. When we do it in Japan, we do it in Japan only.
“And it’s not just the things that are tested, but also the people who are present at the same time.
“HRC staff and Aston Martin staff work together, and we’ve already done multiple tests.
“The gearboxes that Aston Martin is producing are gradually approaching the final specification and we will continue to test them.”
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