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F1 (Round 15): Preview & Starting Grid For 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix

Race starts at 5:10 pm in Bahrain | 10:10 pm in Malaysia

The disrupted 2020 Formula 1 World Championship enters its closing phase this weekend with the first part of a Middle East triple-header. It will certainly be gruelling for the teams who have endured a compressed calendar that only started in the second half of the year after the COVID-19 pandemic forced postponements and cancellations as countries tried to get the pandemic under control.

The first of the final three rounds will be the Bahrain Grand Prix at the circuit in Sakhir. It has been the venue of the Bahrain GP since 2004 and only in 2011 was the event not run due to domestic problems.

There are a few circuit layouts and for this weekend, the GP Circuit will be used. This has 15 turns and a lap length of 5.412 kms. Regardless of which circuit, the conditions are tough and the surface is highly abrasive. Despite the track’s rural location, surrounded by sandy desert, the sand does not actually present the cars with any major issues and the circuit surface (surrounded by 1,120 palm trees) can clean up very quickly.

One of the key considerations will be traction coming out of slower corners and protecting the rear tyres. Pirelli is offering the C2, C3 and C4 tyres this weekend at Sakhir, one compound softer than used in 2019 when most drivers opted for a 2-stop strategy.

Turn 10 is one of the trickiest corners because it has a long, combined corner entry that gets tighter towards the apex – which is blind over a crest. Drivers begin to apply the brakes while also negotiating the wide corner arc of Turn 9 and the track drops away at the apex. All of these factors cause the front-left tyre to go light and increase the risk of a lock-up. The balance is on a knife-edge through this sequence, as drivers battle cornering and braking, so you may see mistakes at this point on the track.

The Bahrain Grand Prix is always punishing on the brakes, with 7 braking events and 3 of those being classified as ‘heavy’ by engineers in the Mercedes-AMG team. Mechanical grip is also an important area in Bahrain, to propel the cars out of the slow turns. This is in stark contrast to the set-up approach for tracks like Silverstone and Mugello, where high-speed corner performance is the priority.

The 57-lap race starts at twilight; as the light dims and temperatures fall to around 26 degrees C., the drivers will be circulating in lighting from 495 posts. Over the projected two hours of the race, they should cover 308 kms, averaging 58 gear-changes on each lap.

Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari have had the most victories at this circuit, the driver having won 4 times and the team having won 6 times. Lewis Hamilton has won 3 times so a win tomorrow will bring him equal to the German driver.

F1 (Round 14): Provisional Results For 2020 Turkish Grand Prix

♦ As in the days before, during practices and qualifying, rain came down and the newly resurfaced track was like ice. Even though all cars were on full wet tyres, there were still accidents on the way to the starting grid, and pit crews rushed to fix the damage as fast as they could.

♦ When the lights went green, wheels spun as expected and then, with the different levels of grip for each car, some were able to move forward while some were still or crawled – and that’s when a few collisions occurred. Daniel Ricciardo got bumped slightly by Lewis Hamilton who seemed to have a good start and as a result, the Aussie’s car bumped Esteban Ocon’s into a spin which took in Valtteri Bottas.

*The 2020 Formula 1 World Champion – Lewis Hamilton – passes his team members after taking the chequered flag in Istanbul.*

♦ So it was a somewhat chaotic start but Lance Stroll got a good run from pole position and Hamilton moved from sixth to third for a while, although Sebastian Vettel did better with a jump from 12th to 3rd within 5 laps. However, he didn’t manage to stay that high as an aggressive Max Verstappen slipped past with Alexander Albon.

♦ Albon pushed hard enough that he suddenly popped into the lead, surprising everyone and back home, his Thai fans must have been cheering as it was the first time – even for a short while – that a Thai driver was in the lead of a F1 race.

♦ Chasing Albon and looking for a way past Perez, Verstappen lost it and spun a few times along the straight. He was lucky not to go into the barriers but dropped to 6th and had to head into the pits to change the flat-spotted tyres.

♦ Bottas was way back and trying hard to get to at least 6th place so he could still have a chance at the title. Hamilton was pushing as hard as his tyres allowed him and trying to maintain the fastest lap for that one extra point because every point counted in this unpredictable and slippery race.

♦ By the halfway mark in the race, the two BWT racing Point cars were leading, with Stroll 4 seconds ahead of Sergio Perez. The closest contender was Albon while Vettel was some 5 seconds behind the Thai driver. Track conditions were still slippery to hold back tyre changes from the intermediates being used.

♦ DRS, which was not enabled earlier, was allowed from lap 30, so things were expected to get interesting as Istanbul Park has good overtaking points.

♦ During the race, it was learnt that Verstappen was under investigation for a potential pitlane infringement (crossing the white line) but the Stewards decided to do so after the race ended.

♦ On lap 37, as Stroll entered the pits for new tyres, Hamilton shot past Perez and snatched the lead. With conditions getting less wet, Hamilton was gaining advantage and could well pull away to keep the leading position over the next 2o laps. Bottas was not having a good day, with a few spins losing him places.

♦ Perhaps too eager to fight back to the front, Stroll rejoined the race and found the new tyres not working well for him, allowing Vettel and Leclerc to get past him. His team mate, Perez, was running second but 11 seconds behind Hamilton.

♦ Despite the slick conditions, only two drivers had damaged their cars enough to have to retire – Antonio Giovinazzi and Nicholas Latifi.

♦ With 10 laps remaining, Hamilton was 20 seconds in the lead and still pulling away. A win in Istanbul would bring his fourth consecutive world championship title to make a total of 7 in all.

♦ Even with 5 laps remaining, there was still uncertainty for Hamilton’s team. His tyres were already 48 laps old and rain looked like it was returning. He had a gap of 25 seconds to slip into the pits and get back out again without losing the lead.

♦ On the 56th lap – with two remaining – Hamilton was told to come in for a precautionary tyre change – and he ignored it, much to the surprise of his team which was waiting! He shot past the pit lane entrance – and took no chances to cross the finish line in one piece. A bit hard for Toto Wolff to bring up the matter of disobeying orders when Hamilton has confirmed his 2020 crown.

F1 (Round 14): Preview & Starting Grid For 2020 Turkish Grand Prix

Race starts at 1:10 pm in Istanbul | 6:10 pm in Malaysia

This weekend sees a Formula 1 race taking place in Turkey, the first time since 2011 when the last Turkish F1 Grand Prix was held there. The 14^th round of the 2020 championship is being run at the Intercity Istanbul Park or Istanbul Racing Circuit (or initially, Istanbul Otodrom) in the country’s capital city. The track was opened in 2005 and was another project of Hermann Tilke, who has designed many of the modern F1 circuits around the world.

Financial issues are said to have been the reason for the Istanbul circuit being left out of the championship calendar after 2011. Its inclusion this year may have been because it was willing to host a round in the revised calendar that was impacted by the pandemic. Having a circuit that was already properly designed and approved for F1 racing, and presumably maintained in a good condition, would have made it an easy choice for the organisers.

One of the most challenging circuits
Istanbul Park has often been labelled as one of the most challenging modern circuits in F1. Of the 14 turns, Turn 8 is ‘legendary’ – a fast, high-g 640-metre left-hander with multiple apexes. Though today’s racing cars are better designed to handle the turn compared to 9 years ago, the speed (around 270 km/h) and duration in the turn will still place a lot of loads on the tyres.

“Due to the increased downforce levels, the iconic Turn 8 will be less of a focus than before. It was pretty much flat-out in the 2011 cars, but it will become even less of a challenge in these 2020 machines. So, teams don’t need to compromise the setup so much for it,” said Mercedes-AMG’s Toto Wolff.

*What the racing cars looked like in 2011 (above and below).*

Besides Turn 8, there are also other challenges around the 5.338-km long circuit that the drivers will do 58 laps on. It will be tough and technically demanding, with the long back straight that allow DRS to enable overtaking heading into Turn 12. The end of the lap consists of a combination of three low-speed corners where braking stability on entry and traction on exit are important.

Wet conditions make things tricky
Given the wet conditions experienced lately, things are therefore going to be tricky. And what is worse is that drivers have reported the resurfaced circuit has created conditions like an ice-rink – rain will just make it much tougher. If it does rain during the race, expect dramatic moments.

Limited value in historical data
“Unlike some of the other unfamiliar races on the 2020 F1 schedule, we do actually have some historical data for the Turkish Grand Prix. However, because the cars have changed so much and the track has recently been resurfaced, the historic data is only useful as a reference,” added Wolff.

A number of the drivers on the starting grid this weekend have raced at Istanbul Park before. Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel have been winners but the one who won the most times was Felipe Massa in 2006, 2007 and 2008, and Jenson Button also won the race in 2009.

Provisional calendar for 2021 Formula 1 World Championship

The Formula 1 organization has announced a provisional calendar of races for the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship which will be submitted to the World Motor Sport Council for approval. While Formula E has confirmed only its first four races, there are 23 rounds proposed by Formula 1 (one of which has yet to be confirmed), and the championship will run from March up till early December.

“We are pleased to announce the 2021 Formula 1 provisional calendar after extensive conversations with our promoters, the teams and the FIA. We are planning for 2021 events with fans that provide an experience close to normal and expect our agreements to be honoured. We have proven that we can safely travel and operate our races and our promoters increasingly recognise the need to move forward and manage the virus. In fact, many hosts actually want to use our event as a platform to show the world they are moving forward,” said Chase Carey, Chairman & CEO of Formula 1.

Two new venues
While most of the venues are familiar to the teams and F1 fans, there are two that are of note. One of the is Zandvoort in Holland which has not had a F1 race since 1985. It was to have run one this year, but the pandemic prevented it. The 2.7-km Zandvoort circuit is quite old, dating back to 1948, but has been redeveloped since the last time F1 cars ran on it.

The other is at Jeddah, a city in Saudi Arabia by the Red Sea. Unlike Bahrain and the UAE, the Saudis aren’t offering a closed circuit for the race but will create a temporary one in the city. No details of the street circuit are known yet, but it should be an interesting new challenge for the drivers – and it might even be run at night. The F1 race won’t be Saudi Arabia’s first international motorsport event as it has already hosted the all-electric Formula E series and the 2020 Dakar Rally.

*The first-ever F1 race in Saudi Arabia might be run at night, like the races in neighbouring Bahrain and Abu Dhabi.*

Vietnam was looking forward to its first-ever F1 event this year but the pandemic prevented it from happening. It is not listed in the 2021 calendar although it might be the one in the empty slot on April 25.

*It is uncertain if Vietnam will get to run a F1 race at its Hanoi circuit in 2021.*

The two countries which had not run F1 races for some time but have been used this year – Turkey and Portugal – are not included either, while the Imola Circuit in Italy is also not in the calendar. It was used for the thirteenth round this year at the beginning of this month.

2020 season unprecedented in F1
The 2021 season follows an unprecedented year for Formula 1 in which the sudden escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the championship not even being able to start its first round in Australia. There were hopes of starting in the second quarter but the situation was still not safe enough and it wasn’t until July that the first of 17 races could be run in Austria.

Safety measures and procedures have been enforced for all participants and for the early races, spectators were not allowed into the circuit. The restriction has been eased a bit for some races but is dependent on approval of local authorities at each venue.

In trying to schedule as many races as possible before the year ended, the organizers took to running two rounds at the same circuit over two weekends in some cases (Austria, the UK and Italy) and the season will conclude on December 13 in Abu Dhabi.

Continued safety measures
The initial races had no spectators and authorities expected strict health and safety measures to be observed by the participants. The plans for 2021 have involved extensive dialogue with all promoters and their local and national authorities at a time of ongoing fluidity related to the global pandemic. “Our hosts for 2021 are reassured by our safe return to racing this season and confident that the plans and procedures we have in place will allow us to return to a level of normality for the 2021 season,” the organizers said.

Of course, the calendar assumes that the pandemic will diminish further by next year – which we should all be praying for – but it is still an unknown factor. So far, the F1 events run have not caused any clusters of COVID-19 infection to be created and the organisers are likely to propose easing of restrictions in the course of the year, subject to approval of the authorities of course.

F1 (Round 13): Provisional Results For 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

*The Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Racing Team confirms its seventh consecutive Constructors Championship title after winning 11 races in the 2020 Formula 1 World Championship, with 4 rounds remaining.*

F1 (Round 13): Preview & Starting Grid For 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

Race starts at 1:10 pm in Italy | 8:10 pm in Malaysia

Round 13 of the 2020 Formula World Championship is another new event – the Formula 1 Emirates Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. It is the third race on Italian soil this year, after races at Monza and Mugello.

This weekend, it is held at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, more popularly referred to as the Imola Circuit as it is near the city of Imola. The last time the circuit had a F1 race was 14 years, when the 2006 San Marino Grand Prix was run.

The circuit had its name associated with the famous Italian carmaker in 1970 to honour Ferrari and mark the importance of the links with the circuit. It was initially after Enzo Ferrari’s son Dino; when Enzo himself passed away in 1988, the decision was taken to add the father’s name to that of his son.

*The last time a F1 race was held at Imola was the 2006 San Marino GP.*

A 2-day weekend format is being tried out for the first time, an approach which could allow additional races to be added to the calendar without spending too many days travelling far from home.

The shortened schedule means less track time – and only one driver has actually done a F1 race at Imola. He is Kimi Raikkonen, who raced at the circuit 5 times in total. For the rest, there’s only one 90-minute session in the morning available to get to know the layout before qualifying in the afternoon.

There are no lap times to aim for, partly because Formula 1 has not been here for several years and even for Raikkonen, the layout has been changed somewhat from what he knew.

Until very recently, it had been hoped that spectators would be allowed to attend in limited numbers, but the worsening of the COVID-19 situation in Italy forced a new decision to be made this week to hold the race without spectators. Furthermore, the race must start right after lunchtime to ensure there is sufficient daylight in the 4-hour window available.

The Imola circuit is a highly technical one, with a wide range of corners. The 67-year old circuit (which has changed over the years) is narrow and bumpy, as the older tracks tend to be. This is quite a change from what the drivers experienced in Portugal just recently.

“With very little time available to analyse the data from free practice, we have reorganised our priorities, allocating resources in a different way both at the track and back in Maranello. We will also manage components, engines and gearboxes for example or the incorporation of components that have already been tested, so as to cut down time spent and to try and reduce the risks as much as possible,” said Matteo Togninalli, Scuderia Ferrari’s Chief Race Engineer.

“The fact that the track has not had a F1 race in 14 years is indeed an additional and significant variable. It means that preparation prior to the event is even more important to try and perform as well as possible. Without any data to work from, as is the case with Imola, the level of fine tuning is reduced and one has to look at the bigger picture,” he explained.

He added that the simulator helps the driver to quickly familiarise himself with the track, not just its layout, but also other features that can impact performance, such as bumpy sections, where to ride the kerbs, the right lines and braking points. “It’s true the drivers learn a new track incredibly quickly and are soon on the limit, but it’s also true that when you go to a new track, the lap times tumble much more quickly than usual. It’s important therefore to do as many laps as possible to get to the optimum level as soon as possible,” Togninalli said.

F1 (Round 12): Results And Highlights Of 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix

♦ The first casualty right after the race began was Sergio Perez whose encounter at Turn 4 with Max Verstappen forced the BWT Racing Point driver to head back to the pits.

♦ When the race started, winds were strong and rain was forecast. As the cars completed half a lap of the circuit, the first drops of rain began to fall.

♦ Lewis Hamilton had gotten off to a good start but was overtaken by Valtteri Bottas who was caught by surprise by Carlos Sainz and lost his leading position to the McLaren driver. But Sainz had only a brief moment of glory and lost the lead to Bottas who was hotly pursued by Hamilton.

♦ The Red Bull team wanted Max Verstappen to stay out as long as possible before bringing him in for new tyres, but by the 17th lap, it was clear that he was starting to struggle with tyre issues.

♦ A day of drama for BWT Racing Point with both cars involved in collisions. On the 19th lap, Lance Stroll turned in and collided with Lando Norris, resulting in both cars being damaged enough to have to go into the pits for new wings. The Stewards found Stroll to be at fault and gave him a 5-second penalty.

♦ In spite of complaining about tyres, Hamilton regained the lead on lap 20 and began to try to pull further away from Bottas.

♦ Before the race reached its halfway point, Stroll got another bit of bad news from his team – another time penalty of 5 seconds for driving out of track limits too often.

♦ At the halfway mark, Hamilton was in a steady lead with 8 seconds separating him from Bottas. Charles Leclerc had moved up to third but was not a threat as he was 21 second behinds Bottas. The Ferrari driver managed to slip into the pits to change tyres and lost only one place when he rejoined the race behind Verstappen.

♦ By lap 40, the Mercedes-AMG team decided that Hamilton needed to change his tyres but the British driver seemed reluctant to come in even though he was a comfortable 8 seconds in the lead.

♦ On lap 41, the Stewards decided that Romain Grosjean had been warned enough times about exceeding track limits and gave him a 5-second penalty. Bottas was also starting to get warnings as well. Alexander Albon would also get a warning later on.

♦ A slow puncture was detected on Norris’ car and he began falling back on lap 43, taking care to reach the pits safely for a tyre change.

♦ With 53 laps completed, it looked like the Portuguese GP would see all cars completing the race… but then Stroll came into the pits and didn’t leave again. He was already in last place anyway.

♦ With 10 laps to go, Verstappen decided not to press hard to try to catch Bottas who was about 10 second ahead. He was fairly safe in third as Leclerc was 20 seconds behind, so the sensible thing to do was to make sure he got the car to the finish.

♦ On the 58th lap, Hamilton told his team that he was experiencing cramps… a case of dehydration? But it seemed to do him good as he went on to set the fastest time!

♦ Hamilton took the chequered flag of the 66-lap race with a 25-second lead and that win was his 92nd, which means he holds the record for the most number of wins in F1 history.

F1 (Round 11): Results And Highlights Of 2020 Eifel Grand Prix

♦ Spectators were again allowed to watch the race from the stands and some 20,000 were present at Nurburgring.

♦ When the lights turned green, Kimi Raikkonen shot off from the starting grid on his 323rd Grand Prix and that makes him the record-holder with the most F1 starts, ahead of Rubens Barrichello.

*Kimi Raikkonen celebrated his 323rd F1 start, which made him the driver with the most F1 starts ever.*

♦ 14 minutes into the race, Romain Grosjean alerted his team that his finger seemed to be damaged by what he believed to be gravel hitting his hand during lap 7.

♦ Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon was the first driver to return to the pits for a tyre change at the end of lap 7 as he seemed to have flat-spotted the tyres.

♦ Valtteri Bottas had gotten a good start to lead, with Lewis Hamilton chasing him. He lost the lead when he locked up going into Turn 1 and Hamilton swept past him. The tyres were flat-spotted so he headed into the pits for a change.

♦ On lap 14, Williams Racing’s George Russell got bumped off at Turn 1 by Kimi Raikkonen and his departure brought the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) into action. The VSC was tested in 2014 and found to be useful so it was adopted from the 2015 season. The Stewards looked into the collision and whether Raikkonen was at fault.

♦ As the VSC ended about a lap later, Albon crossed the path of Daniil Kvyat and damaged the front wing of the Scuderia AlphaTauri. The collision got Albon a 5-second penalty. Anyway, the THial Red Bull Racing driver retired on lap 24 after returning to the pits.

♦ On lap 17, as the first few drops of rain were felt in some areas of the track, Bottas’ car suddenly lost power and he had to bring it back to the pits, and had to retire as the Power Unit had problems. Meanwhile, at the front, Hamilton was pursued by Max Verstappen.

♦ A few laps before the race reached the halfway mark, Esteban Ocon had to retire due to a suspected hydraulic problem and then Lando Norris reported that his car was losing power. He struggled to keep up the speed as Sergio Perez got past him.

♦ At the halfway mark, Hamilton and Verstappen were way ahead in the lead, a 5-second gap separating the world champion from the Dutchman. Almost a minute behind was Daniel Ricciardo, the Renault driver. Four cars had retired.

♦ By lap 45, Norris’ McLaren pulled over, smoke coming out and because it was in a rather tricky position, the Mercedes-AMG Safety Car was despatched while removal was underway. The other McLaren driven by Carlos Sainz Jr was in close contention with Sergio Perez of BWT Racing Point.

♦ 10 laps were left when the Safety Car withdrew and Hamilton managed to get a strong start ahead although Verstappen almost bumped into him. The Mercedes driver even set a new lap record to make sure he had the dominance to stay ahead till the end.

♦ Hamilton took his seventh win of the season with a 4.4-second lead but more significantly, it was the 91st win of his career which now puts him equal with Michael Schumacher.

F1 (Round 11): Preview & Starting Grid For 2020 Eifel Grand Prix

Race starts at 2:10 pm in Germany/8:10 pm in Malaysia

Round 11 of the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship sees yet another different name for the event that will run at Germany’s Nurburgring circuit. It’s called the Eifel Grand Prix this time, which makes it the fourth name, having previously hosted the German, European and Luxembourg Grands Prix. The circuit has not had a F1 race since the German Grand Prix of 2013.

The ‘Eifel’ name refers to the mountains in the region (nothing to do with the Eiffel Tower in Paris) and in the 1930s when there was a race of that name, it saw the birth of the Silver Arrows legend. On June 3 1934, the newly developed Mercedes-Benz W25 won the Eifelrennen with an average speed of 122.5 km/h. Legend has it that the W25 was slightly above the weight limit for the 750-kg Formula in which it competed. And (allegedly) its white paint was scraped off before the race to meet the regulatory limits, exposing its shiny bodywork – hence the first Silver Arrow was born.

*The first of the Silver Arrows at the 1934 Eifel Grand Prix.*

Technical track
The layout of the Nurburgring’s GP Circuit draws some comparisons with Silverstone in that it features a technical, low-speed opening sector followed by faster corners later in the lap. It presents a good all-round test of a car’s performance because it includes a wide range of corner speed and profiles – from high-speed turns, to slow-speed hairpins and twisty chicanes.

While lacking the extreme high-speed turns of the British circuit, it is expected to demand similarly high levels of downforce. This means that the maximum speed anticipated for the W11 (316 km/h) is expected to be the lowest figure of this season.

The circuit’s undulations are one of its most striking features, with a large amount of elevation change. In fact, the difference between the highest point (the start/finish straight) and the lowest point at Turn 7 is around 55 metres.

One of the biggest unknowns for all of the teams this weekend is the track surface and how it has evolved over time. Getting the tyres to work and understanding the operating window will be crucial to unlocking performance out on track.

The tyres Pirelli will supply
Pirelli brings tyres from the middle of the range this weekend with a C2 Hard tyre, C3 Medium tyre and C4 Soft tyre provided. The circuit is not noted as being particularly tough on the rubber but the Italian manufacturer cites the heavy deceleration into the hairpin and its unusual camber as factors likely to push the front left tyre very hard.

While the GP Circuit made its F1 debut in an October race, it is unusual to be racing this far north, this late in the season. The reason is, of course, due to the suspension of activities in the first half of the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a rescheduling of the rounds from July.

The forecast for the weekend indicates the potential for temperatures in single figures alongside the usual Eifel showers. It is something the teams will watch closely as it will present its own unique set of challenges for the tyres.

Victory and fastest lap for Valtteri Bottas in Russia last time out saw the Finn close the gap on his team-mate Lewis Hamilton at the top of the Drivers’ Championship table. Hamilton continues to lead with 205 points to Bottas’ 161. The tightest battle among the drivers is currently over fourth position, between Lando Norris, Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo.

Championship positions
Victory and third place in Sochi extended the Mercedes-AMG advantage in the Constructors’ Championship to 174 points. They now lead Red Bull Racing 366 to 192. Behind Red Bull, the battle for third has become intense after a poor showing in Sochi dragged McLaren back towards their rivals. With 106 points, they are two ahead of Racing Point, on 104, and seven ahead of Renault on 99.

Honda to withdraw from Formula 1 after 2021 season

Honda has announced that it will not participate in the Formula One World Championship as a power unit supplier after the 2021 season ends. The carmaker, which was the first Japanese manufacturer to participate in Formula 1 in the 1960s and a regular name in the decades that followed, made the decision in order to concentrate corporate resources on research and development of new power units and energy technologies.

Why Honda is stopping
“At this time, Honda made a decision to further accelerate such initiatives and strive for the realization of carbon neutrality by 2050, in order to realize a sustainable society. To this end, our current goal of electrifying two-thirds of our global automobile unit sales in 2030 will become a checkpoint we must pass before we get to the 2050 goal, and therefore we must further accelerate the introduction of our carbon-free technologies,” said Takahiro Hachigo, President, Representative Director and CEO of Honda Motor Co.

“For the future realization of carbon neutrality, as a part of this change, we decided to allocate our energy management and fuel technologies as well as our human resources amassed through F1 activities to research and development of advanced power unit and energy technologies. Under such an enhanced R&D system and capability, Honda will focus on the creation of advanced power unit and energy technologies and the realization of carbon neutrality in the future,” he explained.

Racing is in Honda’s DNA
Declaring that ‘racing is in Honda’s DNA’, Mr. Hachigo said that the company will continue to be passionate about taking on challenges and striving to become No. 1 in all categories of racing in which Honda participates.

“Ever since our founding, Honda has been advancing its technologies, developing its engineers and nurturing its strong passion for victory through challenges we have taken in motorsports,” he said. “We still have 7 more races this season, and we are introducing a new power unit with improved performance for the next season. In order to fulfil expectations our fans place on Honda, we will work together with Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri to continue competing with our utmost effort and strive for more victories all the way to the end.”

Honda had resumed its involvement in F1 in 2015 after a 9-year absence, but it did not enjoy the sort of great successes as it did in earlier years. In 2019, it scored three wins last season and has had two wins so far in the 2020 season. The victory of Scuderia AlphaTauri at this year’s Italian Grand Prix was the first time a power unit manufacturer had won with two different teams since the start of Formula One’s hybrid era in 2014.

Commenting on the announcement, Red Bull Racing’s Team Principal, Christian Horner, said: “As a team, we understand how difficult it has been for Honda Motor Company to reach the decision to step back from Formula One at the end of the 2021 season. The shifting focus within the automotive industry has led to Honda’s decision to re-deploy their resources and we understand and respect the reasoning behind this. Their decision presents obvious challenges for us as a team, but we have been here before and with our strength in depth, we are well prepared and equipped to respond effectively, as we have proven in the past.”

“Scuderia AlphaTauri and Honda have built up a very good and professional relationship since we started to cooperate in 2018,” said Team Principal, Franz Tost. “We enjoyed great success together in the last few years, winning a race and finishing on the podium twice, with one second and one third place. It’s unfortunate that Honda has decided to stop their commitment in Formula One, because their Power Unit’s performance has been improving constantly and dramatically to become one of the best engines on the grid in a short period of time, since they returned to the sport.”