That possibility is one of the more intriguing stories to have emerged during the sport’s April break, and while it may sound a little far-fetched, history has shown that anything can happen in F1, especially when it comes to juggling team identities and PU suppliers.
The 2026 season will see a reshuffle of engine partners with Sauber leaving Ferrari to become the works Audi outfit, and Red Bull and AlphaTauri parting company with Honda to run the new Ford-backed PU.
Honda’s position remains unclear. Encouraged by a double title success for Max Verstappen, the company is having second thoughts about its planned withdrawal from the sport, and its name is on the list of manufacturers registered with the FIA for 2026.
That doesn’t mean that Honda will participate, but at least it has a foot in the door. If it does intend to take part it needs to already be working on a 2026 project, and doing so under the auspices of the cost cap and the other restrictions that now apply to PU manufacturers.
Honda also needs to find a new partner team after its procrastination obliged Red Bull to take charge of its own destiny and create its own PU facility in Milton Keynes.
Red Bull Racing RB18 with Honda logo
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
“F1 is greatly shifting towards electrification, and carbon neutrality is our corporate wide target at Honda,” Honda Racing Corporation president Koji Watanabe said in February.
“We think that F1’s future direction is in line with our target, so that is why we have decided to register as the manufacturer of a power unit.
“We’re curious about where F1 is going, F1 being the top racing category, and how is that going to look with more electrification happening? We would like to keep a very close eye on that. And that is why we have decided to register as a PU manufacturer.
“After we made the registration, we have been contacted by multiple F1 teams. For the time being, we would like to keep a close eye on where F1 is going and just see how things go. For now, we don’t have any concrete decisions on whether or not we will be going back to joining F1.”
It’s all very vague, but clearly the interest is there if a suitable partner can be found. Unless it hooks up with a new entrant, the realistic options are the three current Mercedes customers, McLaren, Williams and Aston Martin.
It’s logical that all three are currently looking at what the possible choices are for 2026 and beyond.
“We are at the moment still in…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Motorsport.com – Formula 1 – Stories…