[ 2020 ] Aston Martin RedBull Racing F1 Team - Honda

[selvam_e2002]

I'm confused. RBR did find a partner and invest in them (Honda) after breaking up with Renault.

After how many years of bad-mouthing Renault? Investing (and I doubt RedBull put any money in to Honda's programme) in an engine programme several years after the rules have been written and implemented is always going to be problematic, isn't it?

Mercedes were quietly working on their PU for many months (years?) before the thing first ran in anger in Australia 2014. They spent a lot of money and burned the midnight oil creating their PU. But now people say "oh, it's terrible that Red Bull haven't got an engine that's as good as Mercedes's unit. The FIA should force Mercedes to give Red Bull an engine. Blah, blah."

Well, you reap what you sow.

That's kinda weird one-sided response.
Renault scr*we'd up und f*cked a lot of times. Promising a lot and delivering nothing.
Then as they got their own team degraded RBR to a third tier customer with the attitude."get the engine and that's it. We put the money in our chassis as RBR seems to be much better then us.So we need to gain there.."

Why would RBR put money in the engine? To help the Renault factory team?

Renault used RBR to their convenience. It is what it is. Let's just get on and not live in the past.

I don't agree that Renault screwed RB. 2010 and 2013 WCC and WDC for RB so, we don't see it is screwed up. only after 2014 rule change, they Renault had a bad engine we agree and it can happen to any manufactures in F1. So, that does not mean screwed up by Renault. You cannot win always. It is a cycle.

[KelsO]

I maintain, their not winning cause the chassis isn't fast enough. Nothing to do with the PU.

Are you blind or something, perhaps having memory loss, down on brain capacity? Yes, chassis is not good enough, that much is obvious, but so is the PU. Or did you somehow forget about 3 PU dnfs for verstappen? Its also down on power and ers capabilities, nowhere more evident than in russia just 7 days ago.

Entire package is lacking this year, pointing a finger to a single party is completely devoid of reality.

You call a chassis that is 1.4 seconds behind the best in Hungary, but it is obvious that the chassis is just rubbish, so I would not point out to others about their mental capacity and brain problems.

[Juzh]

I maintain, their not winning cause the chassis isn't fast enough. Nothing to do with the PU.

Are you blind or something, perhaps having memory loss, down on brain capacity? Yes, chassis is not good enough, that much is obvious, but so is the PU. Or did you somehow forget about 3 PU dnfs for verstappen? Its also down on power and ers capabilities, nowhere more evident than in russia just 7 days ago.

Entire package is lacking this year, pointing a finger to a single party is completely devoid of reality.

You call a chassis that is 1.4 seconds behind the best in Hungary, but it is obvious that the chassis is just rubbish, so I would not point out to others about their mental capacity and brain problems.

That car still easily took 2nd place in the race. I'm just loving all the mental gymnastics some people will do in order to make red bull look bad and honda look perfect and infallible. A hint, they're not.

Basically in russia and mugello car was good enough to fight for wins in verstappens hands if honda upheld their end of the bargain.
"losing 6 tenths on the straights".

[KelsO]

That car still easily took 2nd place in the race. I'm just loving all the mental gymnastics some people will do in order to make red bull look bad and honda look perfect and infallible. A hint, they're not.

Basically in russia and mugello car was good enough to fight for wins in verstappens hands if honda upheld their end of the bargain.
"losing 6 tenths on the straights".

You think everyone is idiots, okay.
Red Bull is always eager to point out that the engine is losing, but he talks very modestly about his chassis.
Obviously, it was absolutely pointless for them to try to keep up with Mercedes, even if they made every effort, Mercedes always had a few tens of horsepower in their pocket, we saw this a couple of times this season. On the most powerful track of the season (before the teams with Renault and Honda engines lost the most here), they were only 0.3 or 0.5-0.6 behind (without Bottas's help), this is an excellent result.
And yes, I don’t believe that Mercedes legally created a new engine.
Although I do not know why I am writing this to you, in any case, I think the reason for leaving was not Red Bull and I did not blame them.

[McMika98]

You call a chassis that is 1.4 seconds behind the best in Hungary, but it is obvious that the chassis is just rubbish, so I would not point out to others about their mental capacity and brain problems.

That car still easily took 2nd place in the race.

Basically in russia and mugello car was good enough to fight for wins in verstappens hands if honda upheld their end of the bargain.
"losing 6 tenths on the straights".

Sorry but Max was super lucky at start in Hungary and held position. This year even Merc can't overtakes good midfield teams on most tracks.
The biggest issue has been the quali pace due to the chassis inconsistency, compared to last year quali lap times, expect ferrari cars, Redbull have done worst. Obviously Max is dragging everything from the car in quali and race but even he has been losing it too many times this year.
Car is closer to Alpha Tauri than Merc and AT are using last year redbull rear with similar front end from their previous season. The suspension trick is just useless, if they had last years car with the tighter rear package and engine gains they should have gained 3 to 5 tenths in most races.
Previous years Redbull had winning chassis let down by engine, this year its not the case. Chassis is 70% to blame.

[ispano6]

Are you blind or something, perhaps having memory loss, down on brain capacity? Yes, chassis is not good enough, that much is obvious, but so is the PU. Or did you somehow forget about 3 PU dnfs for verstappen? Its also down on power and ers capabilities, nowhere more evident than in russia just 7 days ago.

Entire package is lacking this year, pointing a finger to a single party is completely devoid of reality.

You call a chassis that is 1.4 seconds behind the best in Hungary, but it is obvious that the chassis is just rubbish, so I would not point out to others about their mental capacity and brain problems.

That car still easily took 2nd place in the race. I'm just loving all the mental gymnastics some people will do in order to make red bull look bad and honda look perfect and infallible. A hint, they're not.

Basically in russia and mugello car was good enough to fight for wins in verstappens hands if honda upheld their end of the bargain.
"losing 6 tenths on the straights".

Guess what, if Red Bull Honda weren't nearly as strong it would be three Mercedes on the podium every time. The only reason why it is remotely interesting is thanks to the underdog taking the fight to Goliath. Still no wins from other teams or engine manufacturers this year... And how much in prize money is Honda making from their efforts?

Honda keeping their end of the bargain. You have quite the audacity without taking into consideration that Honda has upgrades which is NOT ALLOWED to bring. Blame Europe for their covid handling that stunted any chances of a competitive season. Japan has had a far better handle of the situation and HRD Sakura was chugging along, but noo FIA cronies decided out of "fairness" to lock down performance. You disappoint me.

[Juzh]

You call a chassis that is 1.4 seconds behind the best in Hungary, but it is obvious that the chassis is just rubbish, so I would not point out to others about their mental capacity and brain problems.

That car still easily took 2nd place in the race. I'm just loving all the mental gymnastics some people will do in order to make red bull look bad and honda look perfect and infallible. A hint, they're not.

Basically in russia and mugello car was good enough to fight for wins in verstappens hands if honda upheld their end of the bargain.
"losing 6 tenths on the straights".

Guess what, if Red Bull Honda weren't nearly as strong it would be three Mercedes on the podium every time. The only reason why it is remotely interesting is thanks to the underdog taking the fight to Goliath. Still no wins from other teams or engine manufacturers this year... And how much in prize money is Honda making from their efforts?

Honda keeping their end of the bargain. You have quite the audacity without taking into consideration that Honda has upgrades which is NOT ALLOWED to bring. Blame Europe for their covid handling that stunted any chances of a competitive season. Japan has had a far better handle of the situation and HRD Sakura was chugging along, but noo FIA cronies decided out of "fairness" to lock down performance. You disappoint me.

Oh please, cry me a river with this melodramatic post. Blaming everything on covid now? That's probably the worst excuse I've seen so far. You gonna blame covid for 3 dnfs as well? Still waiting on explanations from someone on that one.

Im not saying their performance is bad, just that its not on mercedes level and that both companies (rb and honda) share a portion of blame for their shortcomings. Red bull for coming up with the peakiest car in a long time and honda by dropping the ball on performance and reliability front.

[NL_Fer]

This chassis is not great, but 2nd best of the rest. But somehow I still suspect it designed to make up for a power deficit. The rake dropping at high speed, just to reduce drag and have a acceptable top speed with 30-60bhp less than Merc.

It could be the source of the instability

[KelsO]

The latest posts remind me of the McLaren days when fans were breaking spears in an attempt to prove their case. In the end, you can't blame Red Bull and you can't blame Honda for any failures, they both did a lot to win and I only blame the FIA ​​for patronizing one team. I also can only state the complexity of cooperation between the manufacturer and the independent team. Look at Renault, they had a lot of failure because of the engine, but the factory team cannot blame anyone, in the end it cannot blame itself, it does not contribute to progress, but only corrupts the team from the inside. Red Bull must remember this.

[godlameroso]

That car still easily took 2nd place in the race. I'm just loving all the mental gymnastics some people will do in order to make red bull look bad and honda look perfect and infallible. A hint, they're not.

Basically in russia and mugello car was good enough to fight for wins in verstappens hands if honda upheld their end of the bargain.
"losing 6 tenths on the straights".

Guess what, if Red Bull Honda weren't nearly as strong it would be three Mercedes on the podium every time. The only reason why it is remotely interesting is thanks to the underdog taking the fight to Goliath. Still no wins from other teams or engine manufacturers this year... And how much in prize money is Honda making from their efforts?

Honda keeping their end of the bargain. You have quite the audacity without taking into consideration that Honda has upgrades which is NOT ALLOWED to bring. Blame Europe for their covid handling that stunted any chances of a competitive season. Japan has had a far better handle of the situation and HRD Sakura was chugging along, but noo FIA cronies decided out of "fairness" to lock down performance. You disappoint me.

Oh please, cry me a river with this melodramatic post. Blaming everything on covid now? That's probably the worst excuse I've seen so far. You gonna blame covid for 3 dnfs as well? Still waiting on explanations from someone on that one.

Im not saying their performance is bad, just that its not on mercedes level and that both companies (rb and honda) share a portion of blame for their shortcomings. Red bull for coming up with the peakiest car in a long time and honda by dropping the ball on performance and reliability front.

We don't know how much Honda could have improved in season had there not been global economic lockdown. Red Bull has improved the chassis since Mugello, and they'll keep bringing updates, they're on the right track. Next year's Honda will be substantially better than this year's so there's still something to play for. I just hope that the regulation tweaks don't hurt Red Bull too much because the floor area in front of the rear tires have allowed the RB chassis to take a step forward. Precisely the area that's getting clipped next year, so more importance will be placed on the bargeboards and sidepod end fences to get the same effect.

[diffuser]

After how many years of bad-mouthing Renault? Investing (and I doubt RedBull put any money in to Honda's programme) in an engine programme several years after the rules have been written and implemented is always going to be problematic, isn't it?

Mercedes were quietly working on their PU for many months (years?) before the thing first ran in anger in Australia 2014. They spent a lot of money and burned the midnight oil creating their PU. But now people say "oh, it's terrible that Red Bull haven't got an engine that's as good as Mercedes's unit. The FIA should force Mercedes to give Red Bull an engine. Blah, blah."

Well, you reap what you sow.

That's kinda weird one-sided response.
Renault scr*we'd up und f*cked a lot of times. Promising a lot and delivering nothing.
Then as they got their own team degraded RBR to a third tier customer with the attitude."get the engine and that's it. We put the money in our chassis as RBR seems to be much better then us.So we need to gain there.."

Why would RBR put money in the engine? To help the Renault factory team?

Renault used RBR to their convenience. It is what it is. Let's just get on and not live in the past.

I don't agree that Renault screwed RB. 2010 and 2013 WCC and WDC for RB so, we don't see it is screwed up. only after 2014 rule change, they Renault had a bad engine we agree and it can happen to any manufactures in F1. So, that does not mean screwed up by Renault. You cannot win always. It is a cycle.

Yeah, using his mentality RBR screwed Renault every other year cause RBR failed to win.

[Manoah2u]

To be fair, now that it has sunk in, Honda is doing a wise move to leave F1. I think they're pretty sure and it's pretty clear that there is no way that they're going to be beating Mercedes whatever they do. That is, partially, down to RB, and they know that very well too.

They had a bad start with Mclaren, and it damaged their name. That would have happened without Alonso's remarks, but Fernando's GP2 engine and public outcry hurt them double.
Then, they moved to RBR and let's face it, they did good.
They have won several GP's, they have become the strongest power unit right after Mercedes, beating Ferrari along the way, both with the reds cheating and now that the reds are back to square one.

Unfortunately, they still haven't got enough to 'clearly' beat Mercedes. In such manner that Honda would get the praise. After all, If RBR were to become champions now, it could only be by the tiniest of margins and it would be praised down to Max and RB chassis, not Honda's enormeous efforts.

Then, Honda came up with some -neccesary- updates to keep improving, and somewhere and somehow things went wrong, and this essentially resulted in losing the championship.
Max is getting more and more frustrated, and they are seeing signs of Alonso repeat. Imagine if Alonso is able to fight for the WDC next year or in 2022, what he'll do.

Meanwhile, despite Honda still being 'right behind' Merc, Renault has made significant improvement and is now becoming slowly a threat for Honda.
At the same time, Racing Point has one-upped the grid by copying the Merc, and now they're not only fighting Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault, they're fighting a Merc clone.
All along, the 2022 rule revision MIGHT get them a better chance, but at the same time, there is little guarantee. And in 2026 there's going to be an engine revision.

F1 rules have also one-upped them by freezing developments, which ties their hands behind their back.

I also wonder how much impact it has to Japanese pride that Tsunoda isn't really concidered to get a race seat, and how much that possibly further hampered decisions.

Looking at the above, pulling the plug of the F1 project might be a smart move.
They have had exposure by giving 'hot youngster' Max a couple of wins, and showed they can beat Mercedes.
They have shown they can come out of nothing, later on, and beat the established order. (no, not really in the case of merc, but let's face it, they did win).

BEFORE things turn into another round of coming short in 2021, and then 2022, seeing Max leave the RBR team and media/fans blaming it on the engine,
and no reasonable topdriver to replace Max, and before potentially Alonso can remind everybody of 'GP2' engine, with a Renault engine that might become better,
Honda saves their image and ups and leaves to focus on electric powerplants.

It's sad, but i can understand Honda.
It's also clear as day just how much F1 rules are killing competition.

Let's hope, that Stefano Domenicali is able to influence enough to change the rules in this regards so that we won't lose more.
We're now back to just three PU manufacturers.

With a little luck, Porsche will enter in 2026. Perhaps we'll get lucky too and see BMW back in 2026.
Perhaps we can see Ford/Cosworth back in 2026.

The only way how is if F1 becomes INTERESTING for manufacturers, and let's face it, they're completely NOT right now.

As for RBR, i too hope that we will either get a fruity relationship between Renault and RBR again, but honestly, i'm doubtfull.

I would like to think that Cosworth is smart and buys/licenses the Honda F1 engine, and use it from 2022.
That would atleast mean we have a 4th 'manufacturer'. Since Cosworth is involved with the RedBull-AstonMartin "Newey"Valkyrie project,
atleast there is some sort of link there. Perhaps we can also have a little combo with the Murray T50, essentially the new Mclaren F1, which has
a cosworth engine too.

If RBR were to pull the plug on it's F1 project, this would herald in disaster to be honest. People can complain all they want about them being 'energy drinks',
but that team is the only one who honestly can give Mercedes a run for their money, and was just as dominant in the previous engine formula as Merc is now.
They are also invested with not just one, but two teams, and then there's the route towards F1 itself. It would be a pain for F1 to see them leave.

That said, if they were to take a step back, who/what could step in to fill the void? Honestly no company around that has the same 'investment' that RB has,
so it'll be bad no matter how you put it. I could think of 'brands' like Brabham, but honestly, not really. Tesla would be interesting but they're fully electric, so
no way.

The only interesting direction i could go with would be the VW Group, and there are two entries that might make things interesting.
Yes, Porsche has been mentioned. Porsche belongs to the VW group, but so does Bugatti, even though they're selling a stake to Rimac, they will still remain with VAG.
Lamborghini also belongs to the VW group. Essentially, there ar 3 big brands that can enter the sport.

We also are getting a new F1 'ceo' in the form of Domenicali, who was the head of Lamborghini as of just.
So perhaps we can get atleast the VW group aboard F1 if Domenicali is able to persuade the F1 world enough to make it interesting for them.

We could see

Porsche - RedBull Racing F1 team, powered by Porsche.
Bugatti - Rimac Alpha Tauri F1 team, powered by Volkswagen.
Ineos Lamborghini F1 team, powered by Lamborghini.

[Big Tea]

To be fair, now that it has sunk in, Honda is doing a wise move to leave F1. I think they're pretty sure and it's pretty clear that there is no way that they're going to be beating Mercedes whatever they do. That is, partially, down to RB, and they know that very well too.

They had a bad start with Mclaren, and it damaged their name. That would have happened without Alonso's remarks, but Fernando's GP2 engine and public outcry hurt them double.
Then, they moved to RBR and let's face it, they did good.
They have won several GP's, they have become the strongest power unit right after Mercedes, beating Ferrari along the way, both with the reds cheating and now that the reds are back to square one.

Unfortunately, they still haven't got enough to 'clearly' beat Mercedes. In such manner that Honda would get the praise. After all, If RBR were to become champions now, it could only be by the tiniest of margins and it would be praised down to Max and RB chassis, not Honda's enormeous efforts.

Then, Honda came up with some -neccesary- updates to keep improving, and somewhere and somehow things went wrong, and this essentially resulted in losing the championship.
Max is getting more and more frustrated, and they are seeing signs of Alonso repeat. Imagine if Alonso is able to fight for the WDC next year or in 2022, what he'll do.

Meanwhile, despite Honda still being 'right behind' Merc, Renault has made significant improvement and is now becoming slowly a threat for Honda.
At the same time, Racing Point has one-upped the grid by copying the Merc, and now they're not only fighting Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault, they're fighting a Merc clone.
All along, the 2022 rule revision MIGHT get them a better chance, but at the same time, there is little guarantee. And in 2026 there's going to be an engine revision.

F1 rules have also one-upped them by freezing developments, which ties their hands behind their back.

I also wonder how much impact it has to Japanese pride that Tsunoda isn't really concidered to get a race seat, and how much that possibly further hampered decisions.

Looking at the above, pulling the plug of the F1 project might be a smart move.
They have had exposure by giving 'hot youngster' Max a couple of wins, and showed they can beat Mercedes.
They have shown they can come out of nothing, later on, and beat the established order. (no, not really in the case of merc, but let's face it, they did win).

BEFORE things turn into another round of coming short in 2021, and then 2022, seeing Max leave the RBR team and media/fans blaming it on the engine,
and no reasonable topdriver to replace Max, and before potentially Alonso can remind everybody of 'GP2' engine, with a Renault engine that might become better,
Honda saves their image and ups and leaves to focus on electric powerplants.

It's sad, but i can understand Honda.
It's also clear as day just how much F1 rules are killing competition.

Let's hope, that Stefano Domenicali is able to influence enough to change the rules in this regards so that we won't lose more.
We're now back to just three PU manufacturers.

With a little luck, Porsche will enter in 2026. Perhaps we'll get lucky too and see BMW back in 2026.
Perhaps we can see Ford/Cosworth back in 2026.

The only way how is if F1 becomes INTERESTING for manufacturers, and let's face it, they're completely NOT right now.

As for RBR, i too hope that we will either get a fruity relationship between Renault and RBR again, but honestly, i'm doubtfull.

I would like to think that Cosworth is smart and buys/licenses the Honda F1 engine, and use it from 2022.
That would atleast mean we have a 4th 'manufacturer'. Since Cosworth is involved with the RedBull-AstonMartin "Newey"Valkyrie project,
atleast there is some sort of link there. Perhaps we can also have a little combo with the Murray T50, essentially the new Mclaren F1, which has
a cosworth engine too.

If RBR were to pull the plug on it's F1 project, this would herald in disaster to be honest. People can complain all they want about them being 'energy drinks',
but that team is the only one who honestly can give Mercedes a run for their money, and was just as dominant in the previous engine formula as Merc is now.
They are also invested with not just one, but two teams, and then there's the route towards F1 itself. It would be a pain for F1 to see them leave.

That said, if they were to take a step back, who/what could step in to fill the void? Honestly no company around that has the same 'investment' that RB has,
so it'll be bad no matter how you put it. I could think of 'brands' like Brabham, but honestly, not really. Tesla would be interesting but they're fully electric, so
no way.

The only interesting direction i could go with would be the VW Group, and there are two entries that might make things interesting.
Yes, Porsche has been mentioned. Porsche belongs to the VW group, but so does Bugatti, even though they're selling a stake to Rimac, they will still remain with VAG.
Lamborghini also belongs to the VW group. Essentially, there ar 3 big brands that can enter the sport.

We also are getting a new F1 'ceo' in the form of Domenicali, who was the head of Lamborghini as of just.
So perhaps we can get atleast the VW group aboard F1 if Domenicali is able to persuade the F1 world enough to make it interesting for them.

We could see

Porsche - RedBull Racing F1 team, powered by Porsche.
Bugatti - Rimac Alpha Tauri F1 team, powered by Volkswagen.
Ineos Lamborghini F1 team, powered by Lamborghini.

What remains mow is if Honda allow someone to take over the rights to the engine. They have little to lose really, providing they find a good custodian. They did with Mugan, and were not shamed as people realised it was just keeping an old engine going.

If times are tight, then several tens of millions will look nice in their account, and if they insist on space on the car, covers a nice chunk of advertising.

What bothers me is what happened to Brawn. Would they fear that it becomes a best engine as soon as they abandon it and would they think it made them look bad or even inept, as they could not sort it but some one else did

[etusch]

While Ferrari and Renault in F1 for long time now, they struggled to reach decent performance. In this case any other new unexperienced manufacturer can not make a good entry. Porche and Toyota has some experience coming from WEC but this may help them to produce reliable PU. When it comes to performance they will be at behind. Lambo or others would be worst. Maybe coswort could do better job but I think they also would be behind.
When it come to Honda's engine, they will not sell it anyone. Remember browngp time. They helped team with money when they leaving but they didn't give them engine. I think they worked on engine too, for 2009 season, not only on chassis. But they didn't sell or give engine to Browngp by saying "we already developed this engine, lets run it with the car"

[diffuser]

To be fair, now that it has sunk in, Honda is doing a wise move to leave F1. I think they're pretty sure and it's pretty clear that there is no way that they're going to be beating Mercedes whatever they do. That is, partially, down to RB, and they know that very well too.

They had a bad start with Mclaren, and it damaged their name. That would have happened without Alonso's remarks, but Fernando's GP2 engine and public outcry hurt them double.
Then, they moved to RBR and let's face it, they did good.
They have won several GP's, they have become the strongest power unit right after Mercedes, beating Ferrari along the way, both with the reds cheating and now that the reds are back to square one.

Unfortunately, they still haven't got enough to 'clearly' beat Mercedes. In such manner that Honda would get the praise. After all, If RBR were to become champions now, it could only be by the tiniest of margins and it would be praised down to Max and RB chassis, not Honda's enormeous efforts.

Then, Honda came up with some -neccesary- updates to keep improving, and somewhere and somehow things went wrong, and this essentially resulted in losing the championship.
Max is getting more and more frustrated, and they are seeing signs of Alonso repeat. Imagine if Alonso is able to fight for the WDC next year or in 2022, what he'll do.

Meanwhile, despite Honda still being 'right behind' Merc, Renault has made significant improvement and is now becoming slowly a threat for Honda.
At the same time, Racing Point has one-upped the grid by copying the Merc, and now they're not only fighting Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault, they're fighting a Merc clone.
All along, the 2022 rule revision MIGHT get them a better chance, but at the same time, there is little guarantee. And in 2026 there's going to be an engine revision.

F1 rules have also one-upped them by freezing developments, which ties their hands behind their back.

I also wonder how much impact it has to Japanese pride that Tsunoda isn't really concidered to get a race seat, and how much that possibly further hampered decisions.

Looking at the above, pulling the plug of the F1 project might be a smart move.
They have had exposure by giving 'hot youngster' Max a couple of wins, and showed they can beat Mercedes.
They have shown they can come out of nothing, later on, and beat the established order. (no, not really in the case of merc, but let's face it, they did win).

BEFORE things turn into another round of coming short in 2021, and then 2022, seeing Max leave the RBR team and media/fans blaming it on the engine,
and no reasonable topdriver to replace Max, and before potentially Alonso can remind everybody of 'GP2' engine, with a Renault engine that might become better,
Honda saves their image and ups and leaves to focus on electric powerplants.

It's sad, but i can understand Honda.
It's also clear as day just how much F1 rules are killing competition.

Let's hope, that Stefano Domenicali is able to influence enough to change the rules in this regards so that we won't lose more.
We're now back to just three PU manufacturers.

With a little luck, Porsche will enter in 2026. Perhaps we'll get lucky too and see BMW back in 2026.
Perhaps we can see Ford/Cosworth back in 2026.

The only way how is if F1 becomes INTERESTING for manufacturers, and let's face it, they're completely NOT right now.

As for RBR, i too hope that we will either get a fruity relationship between Renault and RBR again, but honestly, i'm doubtfull.

I would like to think that Cosworth is smart and buys/licenses the Honda F1 engine, and use it from 2022.
That would atleast mean we have a 4th 'manufacturer'. Since Cosworth is involved with the RedBull-AstonMartin "Newey"Valkyrie project,
atleast there is some sort of link there. Perhaps we can also have a little combo with the Murray T50, essentially the new Mclaren F1, which has
a cosworth engine too.

If RBR were to pull the plug on it's F1 project, this would herald in disaster to be honest. People can complain all they want about them being 'energy drinks',
but that team is the only one who honestly can give Mercedes a run for their money, and was just as dominant in the previous engine formula as Merc is now.
They are also invested with not just one, but two teams, and then there's the route towards F1 itself. It would be a pain for F1 to see them leave.

That said, if they were to take a step back, who/what could step in to fill the void? Honestly no company around that has the same 'investment' that RB has,
so it'll be bad no matter how you put it. I could think of 'brands' like Brabham, but honestly, not really. Tesla would be interesting but they're fully electric, so
no way.

The only interesting direction i could go with would be the VW Group, and there are two entries that might make things interesting.
Yes, Porsche has been mentioned. Porsche belongs to the VW group, but so does Bugatti, even though they're selling a stake to Rimac, they will still remain with VAG.
Lamborghini also belongs to the VW group. Essentially, there ar 3 big brands that can enter the sport.

We also are getting a new F1 'ceo' in the form of Domenicali, who was the head of Lamborghini as of just.
So perhaps we can get atleast the VW group aboard F1 if Domenicali is able to persuade the F1 world enough to make it interesting for them.

We could see

Porsche - RedBull Racing F1 team, powered by Porsche.
Bugatti - Rimac Alpha Tauri F1 team, powered by Volkswagen.
Ineos Lamborghini F1 team, powered by Lamborghini.

I think you over emphasize Honda's impact in. F1. F1 thrived in it's absence last time. It will grow again in Honda 3ird exit(proof is the value of the Williams sale).

The rule changes are already in the works with the cap in 2021, aero changes for 2022 and planned new PU regs for 2026.

McLaren screwed them (and themselves) back in 2015. Honda should have read the rule book before joining and told McLaren that if we come in in 2015, we'll be locked into the regs and it will take us forever to catch up. That whole mess, that Alonso got tangled up in, was very much their own doing with a huge helping hand from McLaren. F1 does not suffer fools gladly.

They finally have a team of experienced F1 people and they are exiting right before a new dawn in F1. The Honda people making decisions on joining or exiting F1 don't have any understanding of F1, they're not real racers. It is very obvious with their timings. They're just leaving for their own reasons, like they did before Brawn's championship year.

As much as I would have liked Honda to stay, they're choosing to exit.