Honda made Red Bull offer in Yuki Tsunoda F1 survival bid - report
Honda tried everything it could to keep Yuki Tsunoda, a driver it has supported for several years, on the F1 grid.
It has been reported that Honda made Red Bull a remarkable offer, in an attempt to keep Yuki Tsunoda on the Formula 1 grid.
Red Bull announced on Tuesday afternoon that Tsunoda would not hold a race seat next season within the Austrian organisation, with Isack Hadjar to partner Max Verstappen.
As expected, Hadjar's remarkable rookie season at Racing Bulls has resulted in a 2026 promotion to Red Bull, while Liam Lawson will be partnered by Arvid Lindblad in the sister squad.
Despite losing his race seat, Tsunoda is not leaving the Red Bull family, with him to become its test and reserve driver.
However, according to Auto Motor und Sport, Japanese manufacturer Honda made Red Bull an offer to convince the Milton Keynes-based outfit to give Tsunoda a race seat.
The publication reported that Honda offered Red Bull its F1 engines for next season at a cheaper rate, in exchange for keeping Tsunoda in a seat.
This is despite Honda switching to Aston Martin from next year, with Red Bull to produce its own powertrains with technical support from Ford.
While Red Bull will power itself from 2026, it will continue to require Honda power units for TPC (Testing of Previous Cars) tests.
Red Bull clearly did not accept the engine offer, with the publication also indicating that the Milton Keynes-based outfit will still receive a smaller discount on Honda's engines as part of keeping Tsunoda as a reserve and test driver.
