It had earlier been reported by some media outlets that the meeting to vote on freezing engine development was postponed to 25 February. However, German publication Auto, Motor und Sport reports that the vote is still on 11 February.
Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri will be without an engine supplier from next season onwards after Honda decided to pull out of the sport. With the planned development freeze set for 2023, Red Bull has been keen to bring this forward by a year.
The vote on this matter seems to keep getting delayed. German publication Auto, Motor und Sport has reported that the F1 will vote on this issue on February 11. The outcome is also believed to be almost certain, with all teams set to vote in favour.
As a result, Red Bull will get what it has asked for. Also, the new F1 engines will come in 2025 instead of 2026. It is believed that the negotiations between Red Bull and Honda did not go off smoothly at all with respect to intelligent ownership.
Auto, Motor und Sport went on to claim that “Honda wanted to make sure that data and construction details were not passed on to third parties or future engine partners.”
It is worth noting that Audi seems keen on the prospect of entering F1. Red Bull could, therefore, be a logical partnership option for them.
Honda, meanwhile, does not want Red Bull to share its data to Audi. That problem seems to have been solved now.
The balance of performance is the only issue for now. Mercedes has the best engine on the circuit. There are bound to be others who will not be best impressed by the fact that they will not be able to develop their engines for three years.
It remains to be seen whether an artificial way will be invented to reduce the gap between the engines. Otherwise, Mercedes may continue relatively unopposed in the near future.