{"id":32437,"date":"2025-04-06T08:16:52","date_gmt":"2025-04-06T12:16:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=32437"},"modified":"2025-04-06T08:20:52","modified_gmt":"2025-04-06T12:20:52","slug":"honda-hope-for-another-opportunity-to-work-with-max-verstappen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/04\/06\/honda-hope-for-another-opportunity-to-work-with-max-verstappen\/","title":{"rendered":"Honda hope for &#8220;another opportunity&#8221; to work with Max Verstappen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Verstappen, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/04\/06\/red-bull-verstappen-sense-mclaren-weakness-upgrades-arriving\/\" target=\"_self\">Red Bull<\/a> and Honda have formed a dominant combination in F1 for almost half a decade. These three parties have contributed the necessary ingredients (driver skill, aerodynamic efficiency, engine power) to claim successive world titles.<\/p>\n<p>This winning partnership comes to an end in 2025, with Honda moving to produce Aston Martin&#8217;s engines for the upcoming regulations.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this, both Verstappen and the Japanese manufacturer have emphasised a desire for their paths to cross in the future.<\/p>\n<h2>Verstappen and Honda express mutual admiration<\/h2>\n<p>For several years now, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/10\/f1-honda-working-on-extremely-ambitious-2026-engine-targets\/\" target=\"_self\">Honda<\/a> can be credited with producing the best power units in F1.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of both pure performance and reliability, the Sakura-based engine producers have been second to none since 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, their partnership with Red Bull effectively made the Austrian squad a manufacturer team.<\/p>\n<p>Red Bull enjoyed all the benefits of being able to oversee engine development to suit their aerodynamic philosophy &#8211; a luxury they were denied during their Renault years.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"SuRgS2AhTlBFUpGlJVYhyg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2207801557\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'SuRgS2AhTlBFUpGlJVYhyg',sig:'YNxobQ58mk-6XA7q6OhV4zbRZg1bKjf-3yiZ0hDyMW4=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2207801557',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Speaking before this weekend&#8217;s Japanese GP, Verstappen spoke in glowing terms about his years with Honda:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Of course, before we started working with Honda, we had our success,&#8221; <\/em>he said at an event in Tokyo.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;But I could have never imagined the heights that we got to, winning four Championships together&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;It&#8217;s more about also remembering all what we have achieved together in the sport. And who knows, of course, in the future as well?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;You know what can be done. So it&#8217;s a goodbye for now, but that&#8217;s it.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I&#8217;m still quite young, and you never know what happens in the future.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Honda share a similar sentiment with the Dutchman, whose exploits helped undo their nightmare reunion with McLaren in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>In many ways, their departure from Red Bull was unexpected &#8211; given their title success at the end of 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, the Japanese manufacturer reached out to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/04\/05\/christian-horner-comes-to-tsunodas-defence-post-qualifying\/\" target=\"_self\">Christian Horner&#8217;s team<\/a> after changing their minds on leaving F1. By this stage, however, Red Bull had already invested too much into their engine department.<\/p>\n<h4>Honda praise Verstappen communication with engineers<\/h4>\n<p>Regardless, Honda have outlined their deep respect for Max Verstappen:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Honestly, I hope there will be another opportunity for Honda to work with Max Verstappen.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I sincerely hope so,&#8221;<\/em> HRC President Koji Watanabe told De Telegraaf.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I have spoken to him many times, and he always has been positive about our attitude and mentality.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Max is also very strong in communication with the Honda engineers. He speaks clearly with them, and that ensures the engineers have become fans of his &#8211; which is why they are dedicated to him.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;People often see the sportsman, but I also have deep respect for Max as a person.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"KCcCYpFTTqJGQ5t5SAaapg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2208594308\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'KCcCYpFTTqJGQ5t5SAaapg',sig:'UbWACVsljfSIjHxFd9tLce86Bx4u1l3rJbxoY3CjwDI=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2208594308',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Opportunities further down the line<\/h4>\n<p>Speculation about Verstappen&#8217;s Red Bull future has become increasingly common over recent weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Naturally, Honda&#8217;s partnership with <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/21\/aston-martin-are-quietly-exceeding-expectations-in-china\/\" target=\"_self\">Aston Martin<\/a> &#8211; who have also signed Adrian Newey &#8211; has incentivised suggestions the Dutchman could make a move to Aston Martin over the next few seasons.<\/p>\n<p>At this stage, there is nothing concrete to suggest the 27-year-old will make the move to Aston Martin.<\/p>\n<p>His contract with Red Bull does not expire for several seasons. Whilst there are exit clauses, Verstappen&#8217;s current heroics mean they aren&#8217;t on track to be triggered.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, depending on how Honda and RBPT&#8217;s [Red Bull Powertrains] 2026 engines perform, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/31\/max-verstappen-exit-clauses-put-red-bull-under-pressure\/\" target=\"_self\">Verstappen could be tempted to explore other options<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Verstappen, Red Bull and Honda have formed a dominant combination in F1 for almost half a decade. These three parties have contributed the necessary ingredients (driver skill, aerodynamic efficiency, engine power) to claim successive world titles. This winning partnership comes to an end in 2025, with Honda moving to produce Aston Martin&#8217;s engines for the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":32481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[1566,2452,78],"class_list":["post-32437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-aston-martin","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-red-bull-racing"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32437"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32486,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32437\/revisions\/32486"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}