F1 Red Bull Racing: Christian Horner is optimistic about Red Bull Ford’s power unit

According to Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, the partnership with Ford is one in which many are trained in a short period of time, but the goals are currently being achieved. From 2026 there will be a Red Bull Ford power unit in the Austrian car, but the outside world has doubts about its performance.

Although it will be another two seasons before the new engine regulations come into force, there is already a lot of talk about Red Bull Powertrains engine competition. The engine department of the race booth is currently hard at work developing a new engine, but reports are still not encouraging. For example, Horner, but also Max Verstappen have expressed their concerns about the relationship. For example, fifty percent of the power will have to come from the combustion engine from 2026, the remaining fifty percent will be provided by the electric motor. It has caused doubts about Verstappen’s future with the Austrian team.

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Goals are achieved

In recent weeks, a few optimistic reports have emerged about Red Bull’s new power unit, but in discussions with Motorsport.com Horner explains that everything is going according to plan at the time. “We are achieving the goals we set for ourselves,” opens Horner. So Red Bull is entering new territory by building engines. The main question will be how competitive the power unit will be. “How these goals compare with our competitors is always difficult to say. But the efforts behind the scenes are great, because it is a race against time until the beginning of 2026.”

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Steep learning curve

The Austrian team currently has a good partnership with Honda, but the association is leaving for Aston Martin. The Austrian team has been developing their engines since 2021. “Our equipment is complete, from the point of view of testing and development and test rooms and so on, and from the point of view of the production capacity of the motorcycle it is a very short period, a steep learning curve, but we are on that track and that’s where we thought we’d be at the moment,” the Red Bull Racing team boss said.

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