Red Bull might not be joining hands with Porsche in Formula 1 any more, but their existing partnership with Honda does mean that they still have access to some pretty nice toys every once in a while. One such toy is the all-new Honda Civic Type R, which racer-prodigy Max Verstappen had the chance to wring it around the Euroring Circuit as part of an ad campaign for the highly-awaited hot hatch.
The premise of the ad spot is pretty simple, if not even a little cheesy. After winning the Hungarian Grand Prix, Verstappen was called in for a meeting by Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner. With two hours to spare, Max decided that there’s something he wants to “check out” at the Euroring.
The ‘something’ turns out to be the Civic Type R, and against the advice of his personal assistant, the 2021 F1 World Champion immediately put on his helmet and headed out onto the track. Max enjoyed his time in the new Type R so much that he ends up being late for the aforementioned meeting. So what does he do? He opted to drive himself to the meeting with the hot hatch, of course.
The all-new Honda Civic Type R is powered by an updated K20C1 2.0-litre turbocharged inline-four engine, now making 9 hp and 20 Nm more than its predecessor at 315 hp and 420 Nm of torque. Power is sent to the front wheels in classic Type R fashion, with the engine paired to a six-speed manual transmission as standard.
It’s safe to assume that the gain in track time (Honda beat its own FWD Suzuka track record with a pre-production unit) comes from more than just the small bump in power. The Japanese carmaker says that they’ve also enhanced the car’s gearbox, LSD, as well as the overall rigidity of the car.
According to Max Verstappen, the all-new Honda Civic Type R is “just wow”, but we’ll believe it when we actually get to drive it ourselves.
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