Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire - Red Bull will switch from Renault to Honda engines from 2019. Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner announced on Tuesday: "After careful consideration and evaluation we are certain this partnership with Honda is the right direction for the team."
Red Bull won four consecutive Drivers' and Constructors' championships with Sebastian Vettel and Renault between 2010 and 2013, before the current V6 turbo hybrid power units were introduced. Since then the team has endured a tumultuous relationship with Renault, which has not kept pace with Mercedes and Ferrari in terms of engine development, and Red Bull even rebranded the Renault power units as Tag Heuer.
Red Bull has made no secret of its unhappiness with Renault and Horner recently indicated that the way forward would be decided by the team's performance in the Canadian Grand Prix on 10 June, where Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo respectively finished third and fourth for the team. Ricciardo, who won last month's Monaco Grand Prix, is third in the championship behind Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes.
Honda powers the Red Bull-owned Toro Rosso cars and has notably improved the performance of its engine since the termination of its three year partnership with McLaren. McLaren switched to customer Renault engines but its performance has failed to improve this season.
Red Bull has agreed to a two-year deal with Honda, ending a 12-year relationship with Renault. Horner said: "This multi-year agreement with Honda signals the start of an exciting new phase in Red Bull Racing's efforts to compete not just for Grand Prix wins but for what is always our goal - championship titles.
"We have always taken decisions such as this dispassionately and with only one criteria in mind - do we believe the outcome will allow us to compete at a higher level? After careful consideration and evaluation, we are certain this partnership with Honda is the right direction for the team."
Honda president Takahiro Hachigo said: "Having two teams means we can access twice as much data as previously. We believe that working with both Toro Rosso and Red Bull Racing will allow us to get closer to our goal of winning races and championships, building two strong partnerships."
Renault is trying to build up its own factory team into a title contender - it is fourth in the 2018 championship ahead of this weekend's French Grand Prix at the Paul Ricard circuit.