It was first in the sister Toro Rosso car, so not sure the reliability and evolution could truly be measured, as it would under the main RB team. When Red Bull moved from Renault to Honda the next year, they saw an immediate team improvement. Stong and reliable engines with a good car around it. Regarding Honda leaving F1, the dreaded Covid year had a lot to do with putting extreme strain on their overall resources, and I truly think everyone in industry thought street cars were more rapidly going to EVs more so than hybrids. Turns out, many don't want an EV, they just want a Tesla! Back to F1, Red Bull desperately did not want to go back to Renault and they were not ready to produce their own powertrain, so they begged Honda to sell them their engine with technical support. To your point, I don't think Honda regretted at all staying in F1, but I do not think it was due to them suddenly having success. They had a good engine, just needed the right partner to package it correctly. This is going to be a rough year for AM/Honda. I hope some improvement will happen during the first third/half of the season to make them respectable at the end. The PR damage up front is going to be the worst, especially when the Japanese culture at Honda is not going to allow them to adequately point fingers at all the other AM shortcomings. I know I am biased towards Honda, I just hate to see them get dragged through the mud again in F1, when much of the failures are out of their control.