2025 F1 Pre-Season Briefing Overview

In 1964, Honda began its challenges in F1. At the time, Honda was only in its 2^nd year of automobiles business. The audacious challenge symbolised Honda’s corporate culture of setting high goals and boldly taking on new challenges. In the 1964 season, Honda raced in three grands prix, but retired in each race. In the last round of the following season, 1965, the Mexican Grand Prix, which was held at an altitude of 2,000 meters above sea level on a circuit where air was thin and harsh on the engines, the Honda-developed fuel injection system proved to be extremely effective, enabling the Honda RA272 to lead from start to finish, claiming Honda’s first F1 victory. 2025 marks the 60th anniversary of Honda’s first F1 victory.

Modern F1 evolution and HRC’s operations

Since Honda’s first F1 victory, 60 years have passed and the times, and environment, have dramatically changed. In 2014, F1 introduced hybrid technology, replacing the “engine” with the “power unit” (PU). In the eight years between 2008, the last year of Honda’s third F1 era, and 2016, the 2^nd year of Honda’s hybrid F1 Power Unit, maximum output has increased by more than 200 horsepower, while the amount of fuel required to produce maximum output has been reduced by one-thirds. Modern F1 has become a stage for technological development that determines the world’s best hardware, pushing thermal efficiency to the limit in order to maximise the conversion of fuel energy into driving power.

Another major change is the evolution of digital technology: information from hundreds of sensors attached to F1 cars is instantly sent to HRC Sakura in Japan, where it is analyzed and applied to the car’s next settings. The number of parameters acquired has increased from about 3,000 during Honda’s third F1 era to more than 20,000 today. Without analyzing this data to understand what is happening to the PU and maximize its performance, it is impossible to win in F1. For example, even during a race, changes to the PU’s energy management are made in real time. The software used for these analyses and settings is also developed by HRC. F1 is the world’s most advanced digital battle, not only in terms of hardware, but also in software.

In addition, modern F1 has seen an increase in the number of races, and by 2025 there will be 24 rounds around the world, of which one-third will be in Europe. Because of the complex operations required to compete a season, HPD in the United States was reorganized as HRC US in 2023, followed by the establishment of HRC UK in Milton Keynes, England, in 2024. HRC UK will continue to be an important base for Honda F1 activities after 2026, when Honda will join forces with the Aston Martin Formula One Team.

Significance of Honda’s F1 challenge: developing engineers 

F1 races are held every two weeks, or sometimes every week, and teams must set targets and build up performance one horsepower at a time in a limited period, and actual races demand ultra-high speed and precision down to one-thousandth of a second. Experience that can only be gained in such an environment greatly contributes to the development of engineers.

As F1 is state-of-the-art, it is not possible to apply F1 technology directly to products. However, engineers with F1 experience are the driving force behind the creation of new value for Honda as a whole, through their involvement in development such as e:HEV hybrid technology for mass-production vehicles, and eVTOL.

2025: the last season with Red Bull, onto 2026

2025 is the final year of Honda’s collaboration with the Red Bull Group in F1, which began in 2018. The first win in Honda’s fourth F1 era at the 2019 Austrian Grand Prix, a 1-2 finish at the Brazilian Grand Prix, Scuderia AlphaTauri’s win at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, and winning  historic 21 out of 22 rounds in 2023, were all achieved with Red Bull Group. In addition, PUs with Honda technology contributed to Max Verstappen’s drivers’ championship titles for four consecutive years starting in 2021. In 2025, which will be the last season in partnership with Red Bull, Honda will continue to fight until the very end to win the championship once again.

In the 2026 season, new regulations for both the chassis and PU will be introduced. Currently, the maximum power ratio of the engine and motor is approximately 80 percent engine to 20 percent motor, but in 2026 it will be almost even, and the amount of fuel that can be used per time unit will be further reduced. In addition, 100 percent carbon-neutral fuel will be mandatory. Furthermore, cost cap rules will apply to the development of these power unit technologies.

These three new regulations are in line with Honda’s carbon-neutral direction as F1 looks toward a sustainable future. The new regulations are a high hurdle to overcome, but Honda’s engineers will continue development efforts toward the 2026 season.

Full story at https://global.honda/en/newsroom