According to its boss Christian Horner, Red Bull applies the same bold approach to the development of its own power units, which it chooses in the case of its successful single-seaters.
The Red Bull team currently completely dominates Formula 1. He has only won two grands prix since the start of last season and Max Verstappen is well on his way to winning his fourth title in a row.
However, the big question mark is how long Red Bull’s dominance will continue. Although the technical rules will not change for the next season, they will for the 2026 season, and that will be very radical, when, among other things, the new generation of power units (PJ) will be introduced.
At the same time, the Austrian team faces a big challenge in this regard, because from the 2026 season, after the end of cooperation with Honda, it will produce PJ itself, with the support of the Ford car manufacturer.
So it will be interesting to see how Red Bull fares in terms of engines compared to experienced manufacturers such as Ferrari or Mercedes.
“We are on a steep learning curve with 70 years less experience than Ferrari. However, we have a great group of workers. In addition, we apply the same philosophy as in the case of chassis construction. But it will be a big challenge with the engines, so we have no guarantees,” said Red Bull boss Christian Horner, quoted by Autosport.
“Our disadvantage is that we cannot use current engines. On the other hand, unlike others, we don’t have to be distracted by them now - We don’t have to deal with their reliability and repairs. I think we will only know how we are doing in 2026. But when I look at our progress over the last two years, it is very impressive,” said the Red Bull boss.
While all indications are that the distribution of power between the teams will change in 2026 compared to the current state, Horner is not concerned that Red Bull should pay the price of having to focus on powertrains in addition to single-seater development.
“What we’ve done is very brave and quite audacious, but Red Bull wouldn’t have won 117 races and achieved what we’ve achieved without making bold decisions. We believe that this approach will work for us,” added the British manager.
