Honda entered Formula One in 1964, just four years after producing their first road car. Development of the RA271 began in 1962; Honda built their own engine and chassis, something only Ferrari and BRM had previously done among teams still running in 1962. Their team was all-Japanese in composition, with the exception of American drivers Ronnie Bucknum and Richie Ginther.
In only their second year of competition, Honda reached the top step of the podium when Ginther won the RA272 at the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix. For the 3.0-litre regulations introduced in 1966, Honda brought the RA273, which featured a well-designed 360 hp V12 but was let down by a heavy and unwieldy chassis. Honda returned to the winner's circle in 1967 with the RA300, driven by John Surtees, which won the 1967 Italian Grand Prix on its first Formula One start. The RA300 chassis was partly designed by Lola in the UK, earning the car the nickname "Hondola" from the motoring press. The team finished fourth in the 1967 constructors' championship; Surtees was also fourth in the drivers' standings.
The following year's RA301 had reliability problems but finished on the podium twice and scored a pole position. The new RA302 appeared at only a single race at Rouen-Les-Essarts, lasting a few laps before a fiery crash resulted in the death of driver Jo Schlesser. That accident, combined with a desire to focus on selling road cars in the United States, prompted Honda to withdraw from Formula One at the end of the 1968 season.
Honda returned to Formula One in 1983 as an engine supplier for Spirit, remaining in the sport for a decade. They supplied engines at various times to Williams (1983–87), Lotus (1987–88), McLaren (1988–92) and finally Tyrrell (1991). Honda did not always supply the same engine specification to different teams in the same season.
Stefan Johansson, driving for Spirit, gave Honda its World Championship debut at the 1983 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Earlier that year, Johansson had given the Honda engine its on-track debut at the non-championship 1983 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, the last non-championship race in F1 history. At the final race of the 1983 season in South Africa, Keke Rosberg qualified sixth for Williams-Honda, only 0.7 seconds off pole. Rosberg then gave Honda its first win as an engine supplier at the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix.
Honda won six consecutive constructors' championships as an engine manufacturer: two with Williams in 1986 and 1987, and four with McLaren from 1988 to 1991. They also won five consecutive drivers' championships: Nelson Piquet in 1987, Ayrton Senna in 1988, 1990 and 1991, and Alain Prost in 1989.
Honda's supreme year as an engine supplier was 1988, with McLaren. The McLaren MP4/4, designed by Steve Nichols and powered by the all-new RA168E V6 turbo, claimed 15 pole positions in 16 races and 15 race wins — 8 from Senna and 7 from Prost. McLaren-Honda scored a then-record 199 points in the Constructors' Championship, 134 points ahead of second-placed Ferrari. Only Gerhard Berger in Ferrari scored a pole position and a win outside the Honda camp, at the British and Italian Grands Prix respectively. The 1992 season saw McLaren-Honda finish second in the Constructors' Championship; Honda's final win of that era came when Berger won the 1992 Australian Grand Prix. Honda withdrew after 1992 following the burst of the Japanese asset price bubble. Honda-powered cars had won 71 Grands Prix by the end of the 1992 season, 69 as an engine supplier.
From 1993 to 1998, Honda's only presence in Formula One was through its related but independent partner, Mugen Motorsports, who supplied engines to Footwork, Lotus, Ligier, Prost and Jordan. Mugen-powered cars had won four Grands Prix by the end of the 1999 season. In 1998, Honda began seriously considering a return as a constructor, hiring Harvey Postlethwaite as technical director. A test car, the RA099, designed by Postlethwaite and built by Dallara, was tested during 1999 with Jos Verstappen driving. Postlethwaite suffered a fatal heart attack during a test; the project was shelved and Honda recommitted as a full works engine supplier to British American Racing (BAR) from 2000.
Honda returned in 2000, providing free engines and factory support for BAR. They also supplied free factory engines to Jordan Grand Prix for the 2001 and 2002 seasons, before dropping that partnership in 2003 to concentrate on BAR. BAR-Honda finished second in the 2004 Constructors' Championship behind the dominant Michael Schumacher and Ferrari. In September 2005, Honda purchased the remaining 55% share of BAR to become sole owner, and the team raced as Honda Racing F1 Team from 2006.
Honda's first season as a team since 1968 opened with Jenson Button finishing fourth in Bahrain and scoring a podium in Malaysia. The season proved inconsistent due to reliability problems and pit-stop issues. The turning point came at the Hungaroring, where Button came from fourteenth on the grid to win his first race, with Rubens Barrichello finishing fourth. The team ended 2006 fourth in the constructors' championship with 86 points.
For 2007, Honda launched a new livery for the RA107 depicting planet Earth against a black background, with the web address of environmental awareness website myearthdream.com on the rear wing. The car was the first designed under former HRC motorcycle designer Shuhei Nakamoto. The team struggled throughout 2007, finishing eighth in the constructors' championship with a best result of fifth at the Chinese Grand Prix. In November 2007, former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn was confirmed as team principal; Nick Fry remained as chief executive.
The 2008 season was another difficult year; Honda switched development to 2009 regulations mid-season. Barrichello managed a podium at the wet British Grand Prix with an inspired tyre choice. In December 2008 Honda announced an exit from Formula One, unwilling to continue the team's $300 million budget and staff of 700 during the financial crisis.
The team was saved by a management buyout led by Ross Brawn and Nick Fry, entering the 2009 season as Brawn GP with Mercedes engines. Brawn GP retained Button and Barrichello and won the overall title in its only season before being bought out by Mercedes to become their works team from 2010.
Honda announced its return to Formula One as an engine supplier in 2015, reviving their partnership with McLaren. Honda's power unit was designed around McLaren's tight "size zero" chassis concept. The package proved significantly underpowered and unreliable in 2015, with the team finishing ninth in the constructors' championship. Improvements followed in 2016 — the team scored 24 points in the first six races, three shy of the entire previous season's total, and finished sixth with 76 points. For 2017, Honda redesigned the entire power unit, including repositioning the turbo, compressor and MGU-H. The season again brought reliability problems, and the McLaren-Honda relationship soured; in September 2017 both parties announced they would split at the end of the year.
Toro Rosso agreed to use Honda engines for 2018 as a works outfit, while McLaren switched to customer Renault units. Honda split the project leadership role: Toyoharu Tanabe led trackside operations and Yasuaki Asaki development in Japan. The 2018 power unit, the RA618H, proved significantly more reliable, with only three engine-related retirements all season. In Bahrain, Pierre Gasly finished fourth — Honda's best result since returning in 2015. After Honda demonstrated fast development, Red Bull Racing announced they would switch to full-works Honda from 2019.
Honda entered 2019 powering both Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso. At the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen took third place — Honda's first podium since 2008. Honda introduced a Spec 2 unit in Azerbaijan and a performance-increasing Spec 3 in France. At the Austrian Grand Prix, Verstappen won to give Honda their first win in the V6 turbo-hybrid era. Further wins followed in Germany and Brazil; in Brazil, Gasly finished second in his Toro Rosso-Honda ahead of Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes, securing Honda's first 1–2 finish since the 1991 Japanese Grand Prix. Honda finished the season with the fewest on-track failures of all four manufacturers.
For 2020, Toro Rosso was rebranded as AlphaTauri. At the Italian Grand Prix, AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly achieved his first Formula One victory, making Honda the first engine manufacturer to win with multiple different teams in the V6 turbo-hybrid era. Honda was the only power unit manufacturer other than Mercedes to win races or pole positions that season.
In October 2020, Honda announced withdrawal from Formula One after 2021 to focus on carbon-neutral road vehicle technologies. For 2021 Honda brought forward an all-new power unit, the RA621H, originally planned for 2022. It proved highly competitive against Mercedes in power, energy recovery, and reliability. Verstappen led the championship for much of the season, winning in Emilia Romagna, Monaco, France, Styria and Austria — the first time Honda had won five consecutive races since 1988. He went into the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix tied on points with Lewis Hamilton; a late restart following a safety car period enabled Verstappen to overtake Hamilton on the last lap, winning both the race and the World Championship. It was Honda's first championship in thirty years and Verstappen became the first Honda-powered World Champion since Ayrton Senna in 1991.
Following their withdrawal, Honda agreed to continue constructing, servicing and supplying Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri with power units from its facility in Sakura under the Honda RBPT banner. Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) assumed responsibility for the programme. During the 2022 season the engines were badged as Red Bull Powertrains (RBPT) units; Honda branding returned to both teams' liveries after announcement at the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix, and Honda was a named supplier from 2023. Verstappen scored a record 15 of Red Bull's 17 wins in 2022 and clinched his second title at the Japanese Grand Prix; Red Bull secured the constructors' title at the United States Grand Prix. At the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix, Red Bull won their 12th consecutive race, breaking McLaren's record from the 1988 season — a record McLaren had set with the Honda RA168E. Verstappen won the Drivers' Championship in 2022, 2023 and 2024 with Honda-designed power units; Red Bull Racing won the Constructors' Championship in 2022 and 2023.
In December 2022, Honda, through its subsidiary Honda Racing Corporation, officially registered its interest with the FIA as a power unit manufacturer for 2026. In May 2023, Honda confirmed it would supply its hybrid power units to Aston Martin as a works team. The increased role of the electric element — providing 50% of total power output under the new regulations — and the introduction of 100% sustainable fuels were cited as key factors in Honda's return. Honda had previously collaborated with Aston Martin in 2001 and 2002 when the team raced as Jordan Grand Prix, and the team also ran Mugen-Honda engines between 1998 and 2000. Red Bull, who had committed to their own Red Bull Powertrains project backed by Ford from 2026, did not continue the partnership.
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