Honda has explained how it has helped Red Bull sustain its dominance in Formula 1 despite the manufacturer’s involvement being restricted under the engine freeze.
Red Bull has thrashed the competition since F1 reverted to ground-effect cars in 2022, winning all but one race last term as it retained both championships with ease.
The Austrian outfit’s unassailable advantage at the sharp end enabled it to curtail development on the RB19 last summer and switch resources towards its successor.
That resulted in Red Bull surprising at the launch of the RB20 as it unveiled a multitude of innovations that have helped it to win four of the opening five races thus far.
While Red Bull had detailed the mounting changes that were required, Honda Racing Corporation President Koji Watanabe has divulged how the marque was stunned.
“For this year’s Red Bull car, we were very surprised to see that they changed so much for the RB20,” Watanabe said.
“Last year we won 21 out of the 22 races together, but they still changed the concept. It is unbelievable!
“They made a lot of requests to adapt our engine to the new concept for the RB20. After we saw the RB20 in real life we were so surprised by all the changes that they made.”
Honda’s announcement that it was exiting F1 at the end of 2021 prompted the FIA to introduce homologation on the current power units in the strive to reduce costs.
But the existing suppliers can still seek improvements to reliability and Watanabe has pinpointed how Honda has participated in enabling Red Bull’s changes to thrive.
“Of course, we cannot increase the power [under the engine freeze], but we can adapt the engine to the new machine,” he elucidated.
“Apart from that, we can also improve the reliability of the engine. That is what we have done over the past winter.
“This has given Red Bull more freedom for their design and for their aerodynamic concept. That is why they could change the position of the oil coolers, radiators, etcetera.
“Sometimes last year we had a risk to damage the power unit that did not become big trouble in the end, but we always need to minimise the risk.
“That is why we have made our best effort to improve the reliability of the engine even further for this year.”
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