🧐Why Honda’s F1 exit bombshell shouldn’t be a shock to anyone

Waking up to the news that Honda will exit Formula 1 from the end of the 2021 season feels like opening a manuscript I’ve read before.

In 2008, Honda did the same thing, blaming the global financial crisis as much as the very poor performance of its factory team – that had appeared to be so promising in 2006, when Jenson Button scored his tremendous win in Hungary.

Since its comeback as an engine supplier in 2015, Honda’s F1 path with McLaren was a rocky one, but in Red Bull and its junior team (now AlphaTauri) it found a good deal of success. Had it not been for Mercedes – ironically a team born out of Honda Racing via Brawn GP! – Red Bull would have enjoyed drivers’ title success with Max Verstappen last year, and likely in 2020 too.

But now it will exit F1 for a fourth time, this time citing environmental concerns and its quest to become carbon-free. Just little bits of history repeating…

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