World News – GB – Honda explains exit from F1, ‘environmental initiatives’ now top priority

Honda President Takahiro Hachigo explains in detail why his company is leaving F1 again, indicating its commitment to a’ carbon neutral ‘future does not t align with his involvement

Honda’s announcement to quit F1 at the end of the 2021 season took the sport – and manufacturer partners Red Bull Racing – by surprise, but the automaker has made efforts to explain its unexpected decision

In a lengthy, detailed statement from the Japanese company, President, Representative Director and CEO of Honda Motor Co, Ltd Takahiro Hachigo speaks at length about the difficult decision to withdraw his brand from F1 – a sport with which it has had a rich history. association over the decades – and underlines the growing difficulty in justifying its involvement as a time when the auto industry itself is forging a different and more sustainable path

This is not the first time that Honda has left the sport unexpectedly, with its 2008 exit triggered by the global financial crisis – in the wake of BMW and Toyota – also leaving a significant void. However, on this occasion , the decision came in the offseason, with the team relaunched as BrawnGP – under the eponymous stewardship of Ross Brawn – and continued to dominate the 2009 F1 season with a Mercedes engine.

To its credit this time around, the announcement comes well in advance, Red Bull and Honda are eagerly anticipating eight more F1 races for 2020 and an entire 2021 F1 season

Speaking of the satisfaction he got from turning his last F1 attempt into a victorious success after a high-profile but disastrous return to the sport in 2015 in partnership with McLaren, Hachigo explains the company’s shift to technology durable automobiles and a commitment to carbon neutrality means F1 no longer aligns with its philosophy Read the full statement below

Honda has decided to conclude its participation in the FIA ​​Formula 1 World Championship as a power unit supplier at the end of the 2021 season

In 2015 Honda returned to competition in F1, the most prestigious motor racing series in the world, with the aim of winning using our own energy management technologies And this year was our 6th season To start Honda has experienced a number of challenges in the areas of performance and reliability and has continued an uphill battle, however, in demonstrating the collective strength of « All Honda » – including the use of our engine technologies. aircraft to improve performance and the use of our mass production technologies to improve the combustion efficiency of our engines – we have been able to significantly increase our competitiveness

As for the partners, which is the key factor in F1 competition, we have had the privilege of working with incredible teams, namely Scuderia AlphaTauri since 2018 and Red Bull Racing since the 2019 season Members AlphaTauri, which was Scuderia Toro Rosso at the time, believed in Honda’s potential and signed a contract with us Since then they fully support Honda and we continued to progress together AlphaTauri Honda took our first Grand Prix victory from Italy last month, and this was the 50th race we have competed together since we started our challenge It was the result of our tireless efforts to date, and we had no words to describe the joy we experienced at Honda

With Red Bull Racing, our best well-equipped team to win, we set a clear goal of winning league titles and established a strong partnership As a result, we were able to demonstrate our high competitiveness Through our strong partnerships with both teams and the high level of competitiveness that we have won, we have achieved three wins in the last season and two wins so far this season

On behalf of Honda I would like to once again express our gratitude to Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri for making it possible for us to achieve our ambitions of winning F1 races I would also like to express our appreciation to the FIA, Formula 1 and many people involved for all the support they have given Honda since we decided to compete in F1. And most of all, we are grateful to our fans for their passionate encouragement and encouragement for Honda Thank you

Now, focusing on the business environment facing Honda, we see that the auto industry undergoes a period of great transformation once every hundred years It’s been a while since we started communicating Honda’s intention to focus on creating new mobility products and new values ​​for the future.In particular, we see our environmental initiatives as one of the top priorities of Honda as a manufacturer of mobility

In 2010, Honda set out a vision to achieve « the joy and freedom of mobility » and « a sustainable society where people can enjoy life », and since then we have made progress in our initiatives to eliminate our environmental footprint At this point, Honda made the decision to further accelerate these initiatives and strive to “achieve carbon neutrality by 2050” in order to achieve a sustainable society To this end, our current goal of « electrifying two-thirds of our global automotive unit sales by 2030 » will become a checkpoint that we must cross before reaching the 2050 goal, and therefore we must further accelerate the process. introduction of our carbon free technologies

To achieve our goals, we will focus on strengthening our research and development in the areas of future power plants and energy technologies In April this year, we reorganized the organizational structure of Honda R&D which will focus on future Honda technologies, and we have created a new center called Innovative Research Excellence, Power Unit & Energy

While taking advantage of various powertrain technologies that Honda has accumulated to date, including powertrains for FCVs, battery electric vehicles and turbojets for airplanes, this center has already begun research and development. new power units that will support a carbon neutral society of the future In addition, to achieve carbon neutrality we need not only carbon-free generator sets, but also carbon-free energy Honda has already researched various energy technologies , but we will also make a major improvement in this area

For the future achievement of carbon neutrality, Honda will make a major change during our challenges and focus our corporate resources on the research and development of new power units and energy technologies as part of this change, we have decided to allocate our energy and fuel management technologies as well as our human resources amassed through F1 activities to the research and development of advanced power and energy technologies

As part of such an enhanced R&D system and capabilities, Honda will focus on creating advanced power packs and energy technologies and achieving carbon neutrality in the future

In F1 Honda has achieved a certain level of success in achieving our goal of winning and now we will be channeling our strengths into achieving innovations in the new field of generating sets and power carbon-free and achieving carbon neutrality It will be as tough and difficult a challenge as competing in F1, and it will be a huge challenge Honda has to tackle with the company Today’s announcement is also meant to express Honda’s determination to take on a new achievement challenge. of carbon neutrality In collaboration with Honda stakeholders, we will continue our efforts and strive to achieve carbon neutrality

Since our creation, Honda has been developing its technologies, developing its engineers and nurturing its strong passion for victory through the challenges we have taken up in motorsport Racing is in Honda’s DNA, and as a result, Honda will continue to be passionate about taking on challenges and striving to become No. 1 in all categories of racing in which Honda participates

We still have seven races this season, and we are introducing a new powertrain with improved performance for next season In order to meet the expectations of our fans on Honda, we will work with Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri to continue to compete with all our efforts and strive for more wins until the end

Thank you in advance for your continued understanding and support for Honda’s motorsport business and for the new challenge ahead of us

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Formula 1, Red Bull Racing, Honda Motor Company, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Christian Horner