Verstappen Shrugs Off Red Bull's 2026 Power Unit Development Worries
F1Tuesday, 02 April 2024 at 13:45
Updated at Tuesday, 02 April 2024 at 13:47
Max Verstappen recently addressed worries about Red Bull's power unit development for the new regulations in 2026.
In 2026, F1 will enter new regulations that prescribe a completely new type of power unit: 50% electric motor and 50% internal combustion engine.
Building this unit is one of the biggest tasks awaiting all the manufacturing teams. Perhaps the last time such a significant change happened was in 2014, and it led to the clear dominance of the team with the best power unit—Mercedes.
Red Bull has never produced its own power unit. Right now, the Milton Keynes team collaborates with Honda, the manufacturer that makes the power units exclusively for Red Bull's two F1 teams.
However, the Austrian team decided to start producing their own power units in 2026. This is a huge task as Red Bull has no background in engine production.
Even if Red Bull manages to maintain its dominance in F1 until the end of 2025, its next big test is inevitable and will come in 2026.
As to whether he would consider joining a different team if Red Bull fails their power unit project in 2026 and loses competitiveness, Max Verstappen said:
"I mean, if I have to speculate about everything... I might be worried if I'm still alive tomorrow, right? So, I don't really worry about that too much."
"Of course, I am in close contact with Christian about that and the people working there. Everyone's working flat out, so there is no need to panic about that. It's still not 2026."
Christian Horner and Helmut Marko confirmed the team from Milton Keynes is all in on the project and has no plan B if it fails. Nevertheless, the triple world champion still doesn't seem to be worried at all. He said:
"We know that it is a very big task, we don't take that lightly. And of course, with so many well-established engine manufacturers, we also don't think it's going to be easy to beat them."
"But we have a lot of good people working on the project and we're very excited about it. So time will tell, of course, where it's going to be."
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