Red Bull to be equipped with great skills? 'Capable partners'

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otmar szafnauer excited about combination ford and red bull
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A big challenge awaits Red Bull Racing and Ford. The two are already working hard to create the team's and Racing Bulls' power units for the 2026 season, as they hope to face their experienced competitors Ferrari, Mercedes, and Honda. Otmar Szafnauer believes this could be a successful partnership, the former team principal and former Ford programme manager in the USA explained.

Ford forced personnel to think

In anyone knows how much experience do Ford have in motorsport, especially in Formula 1, that's Szafnauer. The Americans had their own team in the past, produced power units that helped teams like Lotus and Williams to constructors' titles, and also they also owned Cosworth for some time. "Red Bull are getting a very competent and capable partner," Szafnauer began to PlanetF1.

In his career, Szafnauer used what he learned at Ford. He first put Ford's philosophy to use at BAR. "For example, in 2023, you’re starting to consider what the 2026 car would look like. In ’23, you’d have one gateway, and in that gateway, you might say do you have at least three aerodynamicists worried about 2026?"

"Do you have somebody who’s working on the regulations, understanding the rules, and working with the FIA? Yes, I do. On the powertrain guys, do you have enough of them working on 2026 so you’re going to be competitive? You have this check sheet, and it works because it forces you to what you planned to be a good path to success," Szafnauer explained.

According to the former F1 team principal, this way, the team are forced to think about the decisions they will make, and reason why something is done or not given their structure. "I had three sub-project leaders, so to speak, for both manufacturing and purchasing, that they would be responsible for that area of the car, for getting the parts to the car on time, at the right quality level, and that was their responsibility," he concluded, explaining that he was the only one using that 'borrowed' approach from Ford in the competition.

This article was written in collaboration with Ludo van Denderen


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