Honda’s motorsport boss Masashi Yamamoto has revealed that he will be leaving the Japanese engine manufacturer and will be working with Red Bull Powertrains.

After making his debut in 2016 as the director of motorsports for Honda, Yamamoto’s leadership has had a great impact on the company’s success, especially in F1 with both Red Bull and Alpha Tauri. Although Honda has left F1 they will continue to supply their engines to Red Bull’s powertrains division and Yamamoto will act as a liaison between Honda and Red Bull. 

Yamamoto spoke to the Japanese version of motorsport.com in an exclusive interview discussing his new role and future plans with Red Bull powertrains this season. The former head of Honda’s motorsport division emphasized how the fans’ and customers’ happiness is at the forefront of Red Bull powertrains’ agenda.

"We have established a new company, we want to do something that makes people happy, and if we win in F1, then fans will be happy with that,” he said.

"We've signed a contract with the company at Red Bull Powertrains. The company has me, at the request of Red Bull's Christian Horner and Helmut Marko, to support them.

"It's a contract between companies, so it's difficult to speak about details, but as one of the members of Red Bull Powertrains, I will undertake work that will help them."

Yamamoto also spoke about how crucial developing a strong relationship between Red Bull and Honda is for success.

"If, for example, they want to understand Japanese culture and Honda's culture, and have a closer and better relationship with Honda, we can support it. Basically it's a bridge between Red Bull and Japan."

"I decided that in March of last year," he explained. "I was appointed director of motorsports in 2016, and my goal was to win the SUPER GT championship at first. I was able to achieve that in 2018 [with Naoki Yamamoto and Jenson Button].

Honda’s last three years in F1 from 2019 to 2021 proved to be both challenging and rewarding for Yamamoto. However, his dedication and hard work came to fruition when Max Verstappen won the World Drivers’ championship last year. 

"For the next three years, I was dedicated to F1. From the beginning, I thought that this work was the culmination of my life at Honda and I thought I could make use of everything I had experienced there,” stated Yamamoto.

"I was wondering if we could win with Red Bull for the first time in the first year, and then have a good [championship] fight with Mercedes in the second year. But that wasn't the case.

"But, in the third year, with Verstappen's driving ability and the strong Red Bull team we managed to win the championship."

Verstappen’s maiden championship with Honda not only defined an extraordinary accomplishment for them, it was also a testament to the huge progress the Japanese engine manufacturer made over the course of six years from their time supplying engines for McLaren to their partnership with Red Bull and AlphaTauri.

Under Yamamoto’s leadership, Honda closed its driver’s championship 30-year gap in F1 (the last driver was  Ayrton Senna in 1991). While Honda’s departure in F1 could pose some challenges for Red Bull, the addition of Yamamoto to the powertrains division appears to be a step in the right direction.