Red Bull officially confirms switch to Honda in 2019

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Red Bull Racing has announced that it is dropping Renault as its engine supplier at the end of the current season.

The team confirmed on Wednesday morning that it had entered into a two-year deal with Honda for power units in 2019 and 2020.

Team principal Christian Horner welcomed the news as a positive step forward for Red Bull's title ambitions.

"This multi-year agreement with Honda signals the start of an exciting new phase in Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s efforts to compete not just for grand prix wins but for what is always our goal – championship titles.

“We have always taken decisions such as this dispassionately and with only one criteria in mind," he continued. "Do we believe the outcome will allow us to compete at a higher level?

"After careful consideration and evaluation we are certain this partnership with Honda is the right direction for the team.”

"We have been impressed by Honda’s commitment to F1, by the rapid steps they have made in recent times with our sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso, and by the scope of their ambition, which matches our own.

"We look forward to working with Honda in the coming years and to racing together in pursuit of F1’s biggest prizes.”

The announcement brings to an end a 12-year partnership with Renault that has delivered four drivers and four constructors championships between 2010 and 2013

The team first used Renault power in 2007. During F1’s V8 engine era they claimed 47 grand prix victories, and there have been a further ten race wins since then including Daniel Ricciardo's victories in Shanghai and China earlier this season.

Renault discourages Red Bull to switch to Honda power

However the relationship between Red Bull and Renault had grown increasingly strained in recent years. The race team blamed the performance and reliability of the power units for their inability to consistently compete for race wins and titles in recent years.

Red Bull even announced it was ending their relationship in 2015, before a lack of a viable alternative supplier meant they ended up resuming the partnership.

Since then, the team has used Renault units branded under the TAG Heuer name in recent seasons.

“We would like to thank Renault for the past 12 years, a period during which we experienced some incredible moments together," said Horner. "We have sometimes had our differences but Renault has always worked tirelessly and to the best of its ability to provide us with a competitive power unit.

"That is still the case today and we would like to thank the Renault team, and particularly the guys in our garage at every race, for their unstinting commitment and we look forward to ending our partnership on a high come the end of this season.

"Our focus for the rest of this year is still very much on delivering the best results possible in the 2018 Championship and we wish Renault Sport all the best for the future."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.