Honda entered Formula One for the first time in 1964, just one year after starting production of road cars, making both engine and chassis. Honda achieved its first victory at the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix, and another win at the 1967 Italian Grand Prix, before withdrawing after the 1968 season.
Honda returned to the sport in 1983 as an engine manufacturer, remaining until 1992. This period saw Honda dominate Grand Prix racing: between 1986 and 1991 it won five consecutive Drivers' Championships with Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, and six Constructors' titles with Williams and McLaren. CEO Nobuhiko Kawamoto ended Honda's participation after the 1992 season, citing costs and a desire to create a more environmentally friendly company image.
A third stint ran from 2000 to 2008, initially as engine maker and later also as team owner, yielding 17 podiums, including one win, and second place in the 2004 Constructors' standings. Honda returned as a power unit supplier in 2015 and initially struggled, but intense development saw them become race winners again by 2019. In 2021, Honda won the World Drivers' Championship with Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing. Honda formally left Formula One after 2021 to focus on carbon neutral technologies, but an arrangement extended power unit supply to Red Bull until 2025. Honda announced it will formally rejoin in 2026 to provide power units to Aston Martin as a works team.
Ayrton Senna, who won three world championships with Honda power, once referred to Honda as "the greatest company in the world" and held deep respect for founder Soichiro Honda and a strong relationship with Honda chairman Nobuhiko Kawamoto.
Honda debuted in the CART IndyCar World Series as an engine supplier in 1994. The company won six consecutive Drivers' Championships and four Manufacturers' Championships between 1996 and 2001. In 2003, Honda transferred its effort to the IRL IndyCar Series. In 2004, Honda won the Indianapolis 500 for the first time and claimed the Drivers' and Manufacturers' Championships, repeating this feat in 2005. From 2006 to 2011, Honda was the series' lone manufacturer. Since manufacturer competition returned in 2012, Honda's turbocharged V6 engines have won the Indianapolis 500 several times and claimed multiple Drivers' and Manufacturers' titles. Honda engines powered the entire 33-car starting field of the 2010 Indianapolis 500, with no engine-related retirements for the fifth consecutive race.
Soichiro Honda was a race driver himself. In 1959, Honda entered five motorcycles into the Isle of Man TT race. It took until 1961 for Honda to tune its chassis well enough to allow Mike Hailwood to claim its first Grand Prix victories in the 125 and 250 cc classes. Hailwood later claimed Senior TT wins in 1966 and 1967. Honda's race bikes were noted for exotic engine configurations, such as the 5-cylinder, 22,000 rpm, 125 cc bike and their 6-cylinder 250 cc and 297 cc bikes.
In 1979, Honda returned to Grand Prix motorcycle racing with the monocoque-framed, four-stroke NR500. The FIM rules limited engines to four cylinders, so the NR500 used non-circular "race-track" cylinders with 8 valves and two connecting rods each. The experiment failed. For the 1982 season Honda debuted the two-stroke NS500, and in 1983 Freddie Spencer won Honda's first 500 cc Grand Prix World Championship. Honda subsequently became a dominant marque in motorcycle Grand Prix racing with riders including Mick Doohan and Valentino Rossi. Honda leads the total wins at the Isle of Man TT with 227 victories in the solo classes and Sidecar TT. The outright lap record on the Snaefell Mountain Course was held by Honda, set at the 2015 TT by John McGuinness at 132.701 mph on a Honda CBR1000RR.
In 1983, Honda won its first 500 cc Grand Prix World Championship. In the Motocross World Championship, Honda has claimed seventeen world championships. In the World Enduro Championship, Honda has captured eight titles. In motorcycle trials, Honda claimed three world championships with Belgian rider Eddy Lejeune.
Honda won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1995 in the GT2 class, and in 2010 and 2012 in the LMP2 category. Honda made its factory debut in the Super GT Series (previously the All-Japan GT Championship) in 1997, winning its first championships in 2000. Through the Acura and HPD divisions, Honda competed in sports prototype racing, with Spice-Acura prototypes winning the IMSA GT Lights championship in 1991, 1992 and 1993. Acura joined the American Le Mans Series in 2007, winning the 12 Hours of Sebring in class on debut before winning the championship in both LMP1 and LMP2 classes in 2009. Acura returned to prototype racing in 2018 in the DPi class of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, winning championship titles in 2019, 2020 and 2022, as well as the 24 Hours of Daytona overall in 2021, 2022, and 2023. Honda's GT3 car won both the IMSA GTD and Super GT GT300 titles.
During the Group A era of the Japanese Touring Car Championship, Honda won seven manufacturers' titles and six drivers' titles in the sub-1,600 cc division between 1986 and 1993. The Super Touring era saw Honda win the Japanese and North American championships in 1996 and 1997. In Europe, Honda's Super Touring cars claimed over 40 wins across the British, German and European series. Honda remained involved in the British Touring Car Championship, where its cars won multiple championships in the mid-2000s and throughout the 2010s. Honda entered the World Touring Car Championship in 2012, and in 2013 won the Manufacturers' World Championship. Honda's TCR car won the global TCR Model of the Year award in 2019, 2020, and 2024. Honda also sponsored ITV's coverage of Formula One in the UK for 2007.
In Formula Two, Honda engines dominated the premier series in 1966 and scored multiple titles in the early 1980s. In the Japanese Super Formula Championship, Honda-powered cars have won the championship numerous times since 1981, with its title tally in the double digits.
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