Honda’s F1 boss Toyoharu Tanabe revealed that they have prepared a completely new power unit for 2021 and explained in which areas they have made progress compared to 2020 unit.
Honda announced last year that they will withdraw from the sport after the 2021 F1 season, but thanks to the freeze on engine development from 2022, Red Bull and AlphaTauri will be able to continue using their engines under the name Red Bull Powertrains.
Red Bull hopes that this year they will be able to threaten Mercedes in the fight for the world title, helped by the new Honda engine which is stronger than last year and proved to be very reliable in pre-season tests.
“On Honda’s part, to improve performance, we’ve modified many components of our power unit so we actually have a brand new power unit this season,” said Tanabe.
“Compared to last year, the new power unit has more power, a lower center of gravity and is very compact.”
“So in addition to more power, the new power unit has better packaging which will bring our teams more performance on their cars.”
“During the three days of pre-season testing, AlphaTauri drove the most laps of all the teams, and together with Red Bull our power unit did 791 laps which corresponds to a distance of 4281 kilometers.”
“It gave us a lot of data that will be useful for both the power unit and the chassis for the first weekend of the season, and both teams were happy with what they accomplished.”
“We want to welcome the new drivers of the Honda F1 family, the very experienced and quick Sergio Perez in Red Bull and the young debutant Yuki Tsunoda in AlphaTauri.”
“We believe they will make strong driving lineups this season with their teammates Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly.”
“This will be Honda’s last year in Formula 1. We feel very prepared in all areas, from the power unit to the chassis and our two drivers.”
“Race after race, we strive for our ultimate goal of winning the world championship.”
