As of this moment, acquired Mercedes engineers can work at Red Bull

Red Bull wants a different course

For the next few years, the race will still be driven with 1.6-litre V6 turbo hybrid engines. "We are in favour of a completely new engine because the intellectual rights to the Honda power unit expire in 2025. We are against a costly downsizing of the current engine and against the MGU-H," Marko said, also naming something that all teams in Formula 1 have already given their yeses to. "What will definitely come is synthetic fuels."

If Red Bull had been given carte blanche, the 78-year-old Austrian knows what his team would have chosen. "An engine with high revs and a strong racing sound, which in terms of cost is under 100 million per year and under one million per unit. The current engines are way above that. Moreover, costs can be saved through standardization of the turbocharger, KERS, battery and so on," he tells at Speedweek.com. After the summer break all parties involved will meet again at the Monza circuit to discuss the engines from 2025 onwards.

Proprietary engines from 2023 onwards

The power units that Red Bull and AlphaTauri use for next season are still sourced from Honda in Japan. "In 2022 we will still buy our engines directly from the development centre in Sakura. Our engines will be ready for 2023. The newly recruited technicians [from Mercedes and others] should be able to start working for us by the end of spring 2022 at the latest, after the legally required break."

That timing of the 'gardening leave' corresponds perfectly with the construction of the new factory for Red Bull Powertrains. "As far as construction is concerned, a separate hall is being built on our campus for the project. It should be ready by April or May 2022. By then, a large part of AVL's test stands should also be ready," Marko concludes.