Red Bull will not re-brand Honda engines

Red Bull will not re-brand its engines next year.

Recently, the energy drink owned brand has worked with title sponsor Aston Martin and re-branded its customer Renault engines as Tag-Heuer.

But that is changing from 2019.

Red Bull has signed up with new works partner Honda, who intend to run the Honda brand on the former champion team’s cars.

And Honda boss Masahi Yamamoto said even Red Bull using Aston Martin in the official team name will not be a problem.

"Aston Martin stands for sports cars, which is an overlap only with our NSX model," he told Speed Week.

"We discussed this at the board level and they think it’s no problem. It’s actually quite funny. In Tokyo, opposite our headquarters, a new car dealer was recently set up.

"Which brand? Aston Martin!" the Japanese laughed.

Yamamoto admits that teaming up with Red Bull, currently a top F1 team alongside Ferrari and Mercedes, is a great privilege as well as a source of pressure.

Asked if Aston Martin Red Bull Honda can compete for the 2019 title, he answered: "Difficult question. Of course that must ultimately be the goal.

"Mercedes and Ferrari are still ahead so we have to increase our performance. Everyone knows that Red Bull builds the best chassis in formula one, so now we have to equip them with the best possible engine.

"I told the board: Red Bull Racing is our chance to show the world what we really can do. But to do that, we have continue to develop," Yamamoto added.