Honda announced in October 2020 that it would exit Formula One after the 2021 season, citing the need to redirect resources toward carbon-neutral road vehicle technologies. The company nonetheless remained committed to winning the championship in its final season, and brought forward an entirely new power unit design — the RA621H — originally planned for 2022. The RA621H was more powerful, more reliable, and more compact than its predecessor, and proved highly competitive against Mercedes across a closely contested season. Max Verstappen, driving for Red Bull Racing with the RA621H, won the 2021 World Drivers' Championship on the final lap of the final race in Abu Dhabi, becoming the first Honda-powered world champion since Ayrton Senna in 1991.
Following the withdrawal decision, Honda agreed a deal with Red Bull to continue constructing, servicing, and supplying power units from the Sakura facility. The arrangement was made viable by a Formula One power unit development freeze introduced from September 2022, which allowed Honda to scale back its operational footprint while maintaining supply. Honda Racing Corporation assumed responsibility for the programme, and the units' intellectual property remained Honda's throughout the arrangement.
In 2022, the Honda-designed units were rebadged as Red Bull Powertrains (RBPT) units, reducing Honda's visible presence while reflecting its formal withdrawal. However, at the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix — which Honda sponsored — the two parties announced a strengthening of the partnership, and Honda branding returned to the Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri liveries for the remainder of the season. From 2023, the units were marketed as Honda RBPT, with Honda named explicitly as a supplier.
The Honda power unit design remained highly competitive through the partnership period. Multiple performance analyses reported that the unit was on average approximately half a second per lap faster than the Renault alternative Red Bull would otherwise have used. The package contributed to Red Bull's dominant straight-line performance across the era.
In 2022, Verstappen won 15 of Red Bull's 17 victories, clinching his second consecutive Drivers' Championship at the Japanese Grand Prix — Honda's home race. Red Bull secured the Constructors' Championship at the following United States Grand Prix. The 2023 season brought a record-breaking run: at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Red Bull won their twelfth consecutive race, surpassing the record of eleven set by the 1988 McLaren-Honda partnership. Honda therefore broke its own record, as the 1988 McLaren MP4/4 had been powered by Honda's RA168E. Verstappen also won the Drivers' Championship in 2024, meaning Honda-powered drivers claimed the title in every season of the RBPT arrangement.
Red Bull did not renew the Honda partnership for 2026, having already committed to establishing its own power unit facility — Red Bull Powertrains — backed by Ford Motor Company. Honda subsequently announced a full-scale return to Formula One in 2026 as a works power unit supplier to Aston Martin, with the increased electrical power contribution (50% of total output) under the 2026 regulations and the introduction of 100% sustainable fuels cited as key factors in the company's decision to return.
The Honda RBPT era produced three Drivers' Championships for Max Verstappen (2022, 2023, 2024) and two Constructors' Championships for Red Bull Racing (2022, 2023), representing the most concentrated period of Honda-backed success in the sport since its dominant years with McLaren from 1988 to 1991.