Revealed: Red Bull’s customer team plans that could rival Mercedes
Christian Horner said Red Bull Powertrains will be capable of supplying four teams but insists they want to “walk before we can run.”
Red Bull’s engine department has been in the works since early 2021 when, following Honda’s decision to pull out from the sport, the Milton Keynes team decided to take everything in-house.
While the division still receives support from the Japanese supplier, from 2026 Red Bull is going independent and has already began working out of their new base.
Christian Horner says Red Bull capable of powering four F1 teams
Currently there are four engine suppliers in the sport supplying all 10 teams but that figure will increase by two come 2026 when both Audi and Honda, who reversed their withdrawal to link up with Aston Martin, will join the list of suppliers.
As always, there are a number of customer teams on the grid who all want to have the best power unit on offer and much interest will be paid to Red Bull’s new venture considering how well the team is currently performing.
Already McLaren have made some enquiries with CEO Zak Brown visiting Red Bull’s HQ but Horner insisted their plan is to supply just the two teams – Red Bull and AlphaTauri – for now.
“I think we want to walk before we can run,” Horner exclusively told PlanetF1.com. “I think servicing the two teams under the common ownership makes perfect sense.
“We are an independent engine manufacturer. We have a great relationship with Ford, which is working very well, [but] essentially, we’re an independent engine manufacturer and that has longer term strengths and advantages as well.
“If in the future we’re attractive to customers that’s something we’d certainly be open to, to supply more teams in the future. But I think, as I say, we want to establish ourselves first and earn our stripes.”
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目前是奔驰提供大多数团队with Aston Martin, McLaren and Williams as well as their own team taking power units from the Brixworth operation.
That comes with significant benefits, most notably the financial element, and Horner revealed the power unit division has been designed to accommodate four teams in the future.
“We’ve geared our facility for circa four teams so that’s something that we will be capable of doing longer term,” Horner said of their future potential.
“But I think our focus is very much on first establishing ourselves and getting a group of people to be integrated with the chassis team, to work as one collective unit. It’s an enormous, enormous undertaking but we’re on that journey and we’re making reasonable progress.”
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