The Honda RA099 was a prototype Formula One racecar, commissioned by Honda, designed by ex-Ferrari and Tyrrell designer Harvey Postlethwaite and built by Dallara in 1999. Its purpose was similar to the one surrounding the Toyota TF101 of 2001, in that it was supposed to be a working test car used in preparation for a full-scale assault on Grand Prix racing in the following years.

The RA099 was designed in a few months by former Tyrrell Racing employees who joined Honda after the takeover of their team by British American Racing. The single-seater made its first laps on 15 December 1998 on the Italian circuit of Varano de' Melegari, then participated, alongside the other Formula One teams, in the 1999 winter tests where it stood out for its reliability and good performance.

While Honda expressed reservations about its commitment as a constructor, Harvey Postlethwaite succumbed to a heart attack in mid-April 1999 during a test session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. On 21 May 1999, Honda abandoned its Formula One team, preferring to partner with British American Racing, which became its works team through the exclusive supply of Honda engines and a technical partnership concerning the development of the British team's single-seaters. The engine manufacturer Supertec, owned by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, then unsuccessfully considered taking over Honda Racing Developments to enter under its own name in Formula One.

Soichiro Honda, the founding president, who dreamed that one of his cars would one day become world champion in a global motorsport category and whose brand already enjoyed worldwide notoriety for its motorcycles, decided to enter Formula One, a motorsport then centered on Europe and poorly known to the Japanese, to promote its offensive on the automobile market. To prepare, the manufacturer acquired a 2.5 L (0.55 imp gal; 0.66 US gal) Climax engine to study it with a view to building its own engine. Initially, Honda wanted to enter Formula One as an engine supplier; contacts were made with Lotus, one of the best teams on the grid. While the Lotus-Honda project appeared very advanced, Colin Chapman suddenly broke off negotiations at the beginning of 1964. As a result, Honda decided to design its own chassis. The employees of the Honda Research Center, behind the Honda RA271 equipped with a V12 engine, were indeed convinced that their creation was capable of winning Grands Prix.

In the 1964 season, the Honda RA271 driven by Ronnie Bucknum failed to finish any of the four Grands Prix in which it was entered. The following year, two Honda RA272s were entered in the championship, which put the Japanese team's staff under severe strain. Nevertheless, it managed to take advantage of the RA272's fuel injection system during the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix, held on the Mexico City circuit, located at altitude: Richie Ginther won Honda's first victory in Formula One history.

In the 1966 season, the RA273, an evolution of the RA272, proved unreliable. In the 1967 season, Honda subcontracted the design of a Formula One chassis to the British company Lola Cars to replace the RA273, which was far too heavy at 743 kg (1,638 lb), with a lighter chassis. From a single-seater intended to race in the USAC championship, Lola developed the Honda RA300, weighing only 600 kg (1,300 lb). The single-seater, nicknamed Hondola by the specialized press of the time, made a strong impression from its first race appearance at Monza during the 1967 Italian Grand Prix as John Surtees won Honda's second victory in Formula One. Honda and Lola ended their partnership in the 1968 season and the Japanese firm developed the RA301 alone, whose recurring reliability problems led Honda to interrupt the "first phase of its involvement in Formula One" and leave the discipline that same year. following the death of Jo Schlesser at the 1968 French Grand Prix at Rouen in a Honda RA302.

Honda had to wait until the 1983 season to return to Formula One, but only as an engine supplier. Indeed, the cynical comments from discipline specialists arguing that the Hondolas were not true chassis built by Honda pushed the Japanese to focus on supplying engines to customer teams. Honda partnered with the modest Spirit Racing team by equipping its single-seaters with a V6 engine turbocharged engine that was merely an evolution of an engine victorious in Formula Two in the early 1980s.

Honda, whose ambitions in Formula One were growing, then turned to Williams. After three years of building up, Honda produced one of the best engines on the grid and enabled Williams to win the Constructors' World Championship in the 1986 and 1987 seasons. From the 1988 to 1992 seasons, Honda partnered with McLaren, which won four Constructors' Championships, from 1988 to the 1991 season. As an engine supplier, between 1984 and 1992, Honda won 68 Grand Prix, including two with the Lotus team, which it only supplied with older versions of engines provided to Williams in 1987 and 1988.