Red Bull Racing’s partnership with Honda will come to an end after the 2025 Formula One season, closing one of the most successful chapters in the team’s history. Red Bull Racing's partnership with Honda built Red Bull's rise in the F1 grid. It brought home many podiums, race wins, constructors and driver championships. The Red Bull and Honda Era will come to an end.

Confirmed in early 2023, the collaboration will see Ford return to Formula 1 in 2026 as Red Bull launches its own power unit operation under the banner Red Bull Ford Powertrains. This new change marks for a new kind of competition between the teams on the grid. Since entering Formula 1 in 2005, the team has relied on external engine suppliers, from Renault to Honda, to power its championship-winning cars. They will be taking yet another bold and ambitious step. Ford does not manufacture F1 engines, Fords role will be more on the technical side rather than the branding side. Red Bull is taking a strategic bet in this Hybrid Era of Formula 1. There is a bit of uncertainty with taking a step like this, teams try to avoid it as much as possible. 

Ford’s return also carries historic weight. The brand’s legacy in Formula 1 dates back to the iconic Cosworth DFV engine, the engine that dominated Formula 1 from 1967 to the 80s, powering teams like Lotus, McLaren, Williams, and Tyrrell to championships. Ford returning at a time when Formula 1 is growing rapidly in the United States is impossible to ignore. Especially with Cadillac entering as the 11th team and Formula 1 having 3 United States races.

Red Bull and Ford aren’t joining mid cycle... they’re entering at the exact moment the rulebook is rewritten.

With 2026 approaching, the real answers will come on track, the team is not afraid to take risks. The 2025 F1 season brough a lot of setbacks for Red Bull, not just technically. The alliance between Red Bull and Ford stands as one of the defining stories of the transition. Another factor that could influence Red Bull’s performance is how quickly the team can respond and develop over the course of the season. Whether it delivers immediate success or long-term transformation, its impact on the sport will be impossible to ignore.