Trouble for Red Bull Powertrains? 'We are 70 years behind Ferrari'

After Honda announced it was leaving Formula 1, Red Bull Racing took a decision as surprising as it was courageous: the Austrian team - in partnership with Ford - is building its own power unit for the 2026 season (and beyond). Recently, it was leaked that the Red Bull Powertrains project is not going as well as desired. Christian Horner would not confirm the latter, but the Red Bull team boss does indicate that there are the necessary challenges.

After the Chinese Grand Prix, Horner elaborated on the status of the project. "We're on a steep learning curve, where we've got 70 years of disadvantage to Ferrari. But we've got a great group of people. We've got, we're applying the same philosophy as we have on the chassis to the engine. It's a different challenge with the engine," the team principal stated.

That Red Bull is behind the competition, Horner waved away. "So there's no guarantees and there's no knowledge of where anybody else is with these new regulations. It's a clean sheet of paper. We don't have the benefit of an existing engine to learn from. And, from a cost cap perspective, that's a disadvantage. But then at the same time, we don't have a distraction of the current engine and the reliability fixes and so on that are having to be dealt with there."

Horner wants to wait until '26 to draw conclusions

Yet Horner's main message was: "So, I guess we're only really going to see in 2026. But we're meeting our targets at this point in time. And, with just under two years to run, you know, if I look at the progress we've made in the last two years, from almost a standing start, it's been very impressive."