Red Bull With No Plan B Amid Separation With Its Power Unit Manufacturer

Monday, 01 January 2024 at 14:00

Red Bull Racing team advisor Helmut Marko recently gave an update on the Red Bull Powertrains project and stated his team has no plan B.

Red Bull Racing F1 team achieved its success in recent years because the team was able to nail three factors, as Adrian Newey explained in a recent interview.

The team had a great chassis, driver, and power unit. The Chassis and the driver come from within the Red Bull Racing team itself, but the PUs (power units) were built in collaboration with Honda.

As the name suggests, the Red Bull Racing team is owned by Red Bull GmbH - one of the biggest energy drinks companies in the world.

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Other teams like Ferrari or Mercedes are owned by the biggest car manufacturers with a long history and experience in builts engines that power their vehicles.

These teams owned by car manufacturing companies have the know-how and facilities needed to produce their own PUs as opposed to Red Bull.

However, the team from Milton Keynes decided to make a bold move and try to produce its own PUs starting from season 2026. Until then, the team will be aided by Honda.

The name of Red Bull's power unit manufacturing is Red Bull Powertrains. Asked about the progress of the Powertrains project, Helmut Marko told OE24:

"Even though we are still a long way from being able to compete competitively (which is planned for the 2026 World Cup season, editor), everything is going according to plan, and the performance curve is right."

The challenging part about producing the PU for the 2026 season is that F1 will enter new regulations. These regulations prescribe a power unit that is powered 50% by an electric motor and 50% by the actual engine.

That is something we have never seen before in F1, and it is an enormous challenge for all the PU manufacturers. If any team fails to produce a sufficient power unit, they are doomed for at least the next full season.

Being a company that has never produced power units, Red Bull undertook a significant risk going into the 2026 season. Asked if the team has any plan B, Marko added:

"No, it has to work. From 2026 we will drive with our own engine. Until then, we want the best possible performance potential from Honda, which has worked well so far. Honda was my deal, so I will continue to look after it."