Despite the announcement of Red Bull's decision to switch to Honda engines for 2019, the deal to confirm it remains in the early stages, according to Autosport.
In recent weeks, pressure for a decision has been building on the Milton Keynes-based outfit from Renault, who put a deadline of last Sunday's French GP in place, one week earlier than Red Bull had wanted.
Now it seems that could have been one of the driver's for the Anglo-Austrian outfit to commit to a new supplier for next season, but as it stands, the ghost of a previous deal with Sauber which later fell through still hangs over the process.
"What we first discussed and decided [with Red Bull] is we are going to supply the power unit. All the details regarding contracts will be discussed from now on," Honda motorsport boss Masashi Yamamoto explained.
"[In] the next couple of months we'll go into detail of all factors of the contract."
Any possibility a repeat situation is small though, with Sauber's decision largely driven by a change in team principal last season, with Fred Vasseur taking over from Monisha Kaltenborn almost exactly one year ago and later making a deal with Ferrari that has seen a closer partnership including the return of Alfa Romeo.
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Even though a final contract remains unsigned, Honda has started making plans to be in the best position possible to supply Red Bull in 2019 with the development of their power unit for next year already a high priority.
“This year’s spec is mainly all decided for this year, so the last half of this year now will be quite focused on the development of the specs for next year," Yamamoto said in an interview with the official F1 website.
“But all the others will be focused on the engine for next year, too.”
And as for expectations of their first partnership with one of the top three teams on the grid...
“Our next step is to win races and to win championships, we decided that getting together with Red Bull is the right choice,” he concluded.
