As power unit (PU) development was essentially frozen in 2023, Honda Racing (HRC) will produced a brushed-up version of the previous year’s RBPTH001 for Red Bull and AlphaTauri. In addition, Honda’s name was revived as RBPT aimed to be registered as a new entrant in 2026. In accordance, the PU’s name for this year was Honda RBPTH001.

Under the development restrictions, changes and improvements to increase power output were not allowed, but modifications and control system tuning to increase reliability were. The key to victory became how many marginal gains could be made by increasing reliability, or using all of the PU’s potential. Another way to improve performance was to create detailed settings in terms of regenerating electricity and the effective use of power output, tailored to each circuit and driver’s style.

HRC corrected the PU’s problems that had arisen during the previous season, identified its limits and to achieve them, reviewed its control systems, and sought ways to use the PU more aggressively, applying these to the completed Honda RBPTH001.

Red Bull and Max Verstappen, who had demonstrated their unparalleled speed the previous year, were even stronger in the 2023 season. Verstappen won 19 of the 22 races, setting a new record for most wins in a season. He already won the title in the sprint race at Round 18, Qatar and was crowned world champion for the third year in a row. Teammate Sergio Perez also won two races to give Red Bull back-to-back constructors’ titles with an impressive 21 wins out of 22 races. Red Bull set a new winning rate record (0.954), surpassing McLaren Honda’s 0.937, set in 1988 with 15 wins from 16 races. It also set records for the most wins in a season (21 for Red Bull and 19 for Verstappen), consecutive wins in a season (15 consecutive wins for Red Bull and 10 for Verstappen), highest driver winning percentage in a season (0.864 for Verstappen), and the most fastest laps in a season (12 by Verstappen).

In contrast, AlphaTauri struggled. In his third year in F1, Yuki Tsunoda struggled with an unstable car, and finished the year with six points-finishes, a best finish of 8th, and was 14th in the drivers’ standings.

This year, Franz Tost had retired after leading Toro Rosso since 2006. The famous F1 leader, who had nurtured world champions such as Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen, had joined forces with Honda from 2018 and was Honda’s partner, and a person who lent a helping hand during the difficult times in Honda’s fourth F1 era.

In May this year, Honda announced its partnership with Aston Martin, to return to F1 in 2026 as a factory team.