Red Bull F1 Championship: Christian Horner on Red Bull Powertrains: ‘We’re seventy years behind Ferrari’

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner is satisfied with the progress made by the power unit department, but at the same time admits that it is behind a team like Ferrari by seventy years.

The Austrian team had to come up with a plan ‘B’ at the end of 2021 when Honda announced that it would withdraw from Formula 1. Red Bull has worked with various engine suppliers in the past and in order not to be dependent on suppliers, the team established its own engine department called: Red Bull Powertrains. For this purpose, the team not only attracted employees from Honda, employees from Ferrari, but also Mercedes were also brought in. In addition, the electric side of the power unit will be the largest part of the power source from 2026, so Ford is connected as a partner.

There are no guarantees

The challenge is clear, Red Bull Powertrains must provide the main power source by the beginning of 2026. Horner says. PlanetF1 however, for that coefficient, which does not have a clear diagram of the power unit. “I mean, we are on a steep learning curve, where we are behind Ferrari for 70 years. But we have a great group of people, we use the same philosophy as us on the chassis and the engine – it is different. The engine challenge, there are no guarantees and there is no understanding on how others are doing with these new regulations.”

The progress is impressive

The engine department has been working on it for several years now and Horner is up to the challenge. “It’s a clean sheet and we don’t have the advantage of an existing engine that we can learn from. From a cost ceiling perspective, that’s a disadvantage,” says the Red Bull Racing team boss. However, he also sees the benefits of the current situation. “But at the same time, we don’t have any distractions from the current engine and the reliability issues and so on that need to be resolved there.” Horner insists that the company’s set goals are being met. “If it’s only been less than two years, when I look at the progress we’ve made in the last two years from the very beginning, it’s very impressive.”

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