GALLERY: RED BULL AND ALPHATAURI TO RACE WITH UNIQUE LIVERIES

At this weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri will race with unique liveries to celebrate the teams’ race-winning alliance with power unit supplier Honda and to give the manufacturer’s fans in Japan a chance to wave farewell to the company, on what should have been the occasion of its final home race at Suzuka.

The Red Bull Racing RB16B cars will feature a predominantly white livery inspired by the legendary Honda RA 272 car, in which US racer Richie Ginther secured the company’s maiden Formula 1 win at the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix.

Meanwhile, at AlphaTauri, the rear wings of the AT02 cars driven by Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda will feature the one-word message ありがとう(arigato,) meaning “thank you”.

Since Red Bull’s partnership with Honda was launched in 2018, the Japanese manufacturer has helped both Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri to reach the top of the Formula 1 podium, with Red Bull Racing scoring 13 victories to date and AlphaTauri taking a memorable win on home soil in Italy in 2020. In all, Red Bull and Honda have together scored 35 podium finishes and 11 pole positions to date.

While their race-winning Formula 1 partnership will come to an end at the close of this year’s World Championship, Red Bull and Honda are pleased to announce that they will race on together in the wider world of motorsport, through an exciting new collaboration.

The diversification agreement will see the Red Bull group of companies and Honda work together on a variety of motorsport activities, encompassing the transition of power unit development from Honda to Red Bull Powertrains, young driver development, marketing and branding initiatives, as well as competitive activity across a range of motorsport disciplines.

In Formula 1, Red Bull Powertrains will have the right to use Honda IP relating to the Power Unit from 2022. Whilst Honda will support Red Bull Powertrains through the assembly of power units, the provision of trackside engineering support and race operation assistance in 2022, from 2023, RBPT will take responsibility for all manufacturing and servicing of Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri’s engines. Additionally, to ensure team continuity, there will be a transfer of Honda Racing Development UK employees to Red Bull Powertrains.

Beyond Formula 1, Red Bull and Honda will continue to work together on their respective young driver programmes. The Red Bull Junior Team and Honda Formula Dream Project will partner to further grow motorsport in Japan, with the ultimate goal of promoting new generations of Japanese drivers to the highest levels of global motorsport, as has happened with Yuki Tsunoda in Formula 1.

Red Bull and Honda will also expand their cooperation to create a joint presence in various forms of motorsport, in other sports and wider activities in order to broaden the reach of both brands and in particular promote Honda’s innovative mobility products to a broader audience and help the company achieve its stated aim of achieving carbon neutrality throughout its operations.

Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing Honda CEO and Team Principal said: "Red Bull’s collaboration with Honda has been enormously successful and while our relationship in Formula 1 is changing, neither of us wish for that to be the end of the story. We are very pleased that our ambitious and exciting Red Bull Powertrains project will be strongly supported by Honda, technically and operationally, in 2022 and this will help ensure that Red Bull’s transition to the status of chassis and power unit manufacturer is seamless."

"Equally as exciting is the news that our collaboration with Honda will extend to a variety of motorsport activities, from driver development to other racing disciplines and even across the wider sporting world. This stretch of Honda’s Formula 1 voyage is coming to an end but together we are embarking on a new and fascinating journey."

Koji Watanabe, Chief Officer for Brand and Communication Operations at Honda added: "Everyone at Honda is extremely disappointed that the Japanese Grand Prix has had to be cancelled, while fully understanding and agreeing with the reasons behind this decision."

"We were especially keen to race at Suzuka Circuit, as it is our last year in the sport, at a time when both our teams are performing very well. We also appreciate that the Japanese fans were particularly looking forward to seeing Honda’s last appearance here and Yuki Tsunoda driving in his home race."

"We know that a special livery cannot replace what would have been a very exciting weekend, but we hope that Honda fans around the world, especially those in Japan, will accept this special livery as a small token of our appreciation of their continued support over so many years.