Why Red Bull's Honda takeover is a gamechanger for its F1 mindset

Red Bull as a company likes to do things its own way. Being a sponsor and just a player in someone else's business is not something that it sits comfortably with. It's why it has two Formula 1 teams, several football clubs, runs its own events, has its own media house and own television channel. Oh, and its own record label too.

So, it is not hard to understand how frustrating F1's turbo-hybrid era must have been for the energy drinks giant. During the V8 spell, where engine performance was pretty much equal across all manufacturers, Red Bull had triumphed at a time when aero was king. And its hold over F1 had been helped at times by some blown exhaust assistance from engine partner Renault.

But F1's move to turbo hybrids from 2014 changed the landscape dramatically. The switch thrust the engine to the very centre of overall car performance - where first power, but then more recently packaging, energy deployment and rampant investment have proved keys to success.

Mercedes, having been at the cutting edge of power unit technology since 2014, helped mould its record-breaking seven consecutive world title doubles around the perfect combination of its engine and car being as one.

For Red Bull, the era has been one where its fate has been decided a lot by factors outside of its control. Its long-time partner Renault, so successful in the normally-aspirated days, initially took a while to get on top of the new challenges of the hybrid power units.

And, although the French manufacturer grew into a position where it could at least allow its teams to challenge for wins, it never had the best engine out there. Furthermore, for Renault, having its own works team meant that the first priority was always itself, rather than any demands that were coming its way from Milton Keynes.

Added to that, the relationship between Renault and Red Bull bosses had become poisoned in the wake of the early turbo hybrid struggles. In fact, so much so, that when Red Bull was forced to run Renault customer engines from 2016 to 2018 they could not carry the French brand's name. Hence the TAG-Heuer moniker.

Red Bull's switch to Honda was supposed to finally put the team fully back in control, for although not a complete works team in the way that Mercedes, Ferrari, and Renault are all the same company, Honda was at least only working for the energy drinks giant's two squads.

"What this really does is that we take, and Red Bull very much takes, control of our own future and destiny. It's safeguarded the commitment of Red Bull to F1 for the foreseeable future" Christian Horner

But, while the strong foundations of Red Bull and Honda's first 2019 campaign together should have acted as the springboard to a full-on title assault in 2020, it did not happen that way. Honda's power unit proved to still be down on performance compared to Mercedes, especially in terms of overall energy deployment, but worst of all was the news from Japan.

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Amid the backdrop of the financial difficulties automotive manufacturers are having during the switch to electric vehicles, plus the high costs of an F1 project that was not winning titles, Honda's bosses elected to pull the plug on its programme. The move again left Red Bull in the one place it really does not like being: dependent on someone else.

At first glance, it appeared Red Bull's only option would be to go back, cap in hand, to Renault to request another customer supply deal - and return to all the frustrations it had before about not being master of its own destiny. But, soon, an alternative plan opened up: of Honda agreeing to sell its F1 project for Red Bull to take over under its own engine division.

This would require some political manoeuvering, especially in terms of getting an engine freeze in place as Red Bull could not afford to be saddled with an expensive engine development programme on top of the practicalities of running the power units. In the end, with a bit of smoothing of the way from F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, a deal was reached and the plan put in place.

But, while the move is good for Red Bull's immediate short-term ambitions, it is actually over the longer term that this is a game changer for the team - and especially its owner Dietrich Mateschitz. As F1 commits to a turbo-hybrid future from 2025, the importance of the power unit to the overall car package is not going to diminish. If Red Bull wants to achieve its ultimate goal - of being master of its own destiny - then being in charge of its engine is the only viable solution.

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It has long toyed with the idea of doing its own powerplant, but the start up costs of developing an engine from scratch always put that project beyond realistic means. The opportunities opened up by Honda willing to offload its project and an already well-developed engine was something that could not be turned down.

When team boss Christian Horner talked this week of it being a 'long term' solution, it is clear what he means: Red Bull is gunning to become a proper works team and produce its own car and engine - just as Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari do. For the first time in its F1 history, responsibility for Red Bull's performance on the race track starts and ends at the factory doors in Milton Keynes.

And, while some teams may shirk at having such responsibility, and be nervous about the risks associated with trying to take on the might of some of the world's biggest car markers, Red Bull has not become such a modern day business phenomenon because it has taken the easy route to do things.

Speaking about the wider implications of the move to take over the Honda project, Horner suggested it had reinvigorated Red Bull's wider ambitions in F1. While a complete pullout of grand prix racing if it had been forced to go down the Renault route was not likely, Horner said that certainly Red Bull's appetite to stay involved would have been "diminished".

"Red Bull is almost too grown up to be a customer team," he said. "Of course, the aspirations of this team surpassed that of some of the current suppliers. What we've experienced with Honda has been a fantastic partnership and relationship and it's a shame it comes to a premature end at the end of this year.

"We've had two successful and enjoyable seasons so far and we're determined to have a competitive and enjoyable final season in Formula 1. But I think what this really does is that we take, and Red Bull very much takes, control of our own future and destiny. I think it's safeguarded the commitment of Red Bull to F1 for the foreseeable future."

In being back in full control of its F1 destiny, Red Bull has got its grand prix mojo back.