Max Verstappen’s manager Raymond Vermeulen has revealed the driver’s personal team has been hearing “good things about” the Red Bull-Ford engine, but, he acknowledges, “what is good?”

Heading into the new season without a reference, both for the power unit and the car, he reckons the important part will be how quickly Red Bull can turn things around if it finds itself on the back foot.

‘I don’t know, what’s the reference? So let’s wait and see.’

Next season’s Red Bull F1 car will be powered by the team’s own engine, Red Bull taking its place in the line-up as an engine supplier for the first time after partnering up with Ford to produce its own in-house engines.

Honda announced back in 2020 that it would officially leave Formula 1 after the 2021. It led to Red Bull creating Red Bull Powertrains, now ‘Red Bull Ford Powertrains’, to run the Honda engines themselves through to the end of 2025 when the split became official.

Honda has headed off to Aston Martin, and Red Bull has been preparing for its first campaign as an engine supplier.

According to Verstappen‘s long-term manager, Vermeulen, the noises coming out of Red Bull Ford Powertrains so far has been good.

“What’s the reference for next year? Nobody knows,” Vermeulen told the Dutch edition of RacingNews365.

“So it will be very clear in the first few races how things are panning out. So we start with a fresh approach.

“We hear good things about the engine, but what is good?

“I don’t know, what’s the reference? So let’s wait and see.”

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But while Vermeulen would, of course, like Red Bull with its all-new RB22 to come out of the blocks firing, the Dutchman accepts it may be a case of how quickly Red Bull and its rivals recover any deficit they may have that will be pivotal in how the season plays out.

“I think the decisive point will be which team is able to turn it around as quickly as possible, if you’re not high in the pecking order,” he said.

“So, how to reshuffle the office back in the factory and get new parts on the car to have a quick car. So, let’s see how that pans out.

“But it’s the same for everyone, so that’s the good part of it.”

There is a lot resting on the season for Red Bull CEO Oliver Mintzlaff certain Verstappen will stay on beyond 2026, clauses in the four-time World Champion’s contract could allow him to leave.

For now, though, Vermeulen says his driver is ready to give his all for Red Bull after an epic comeback in the F1 2025 season.

“For the moment, we are, absolutely [happy],” he said. “I think we had a hell of a season. We have a very challenging year ahead. Max is still young, still eager and still very quick. So, all to play for.”

Red Bull Ford Powertrain’s technical director Ben Hodgkinson recently revealed that Verstappen had been impressed when he toured the factory last month.

“I think he was impressed with where we were,” Hodgkinson told The Inside Track. “We were able to show him just how much hardware is going through our build shots and on our dynos.

“He was able to see some running engines doing laps, so he got to hear what the ‘26 power unit would sound like. I guess he’ll be hearing that just behind his head for quite a number of hours, so it was the first time he got to hear exactly what it sounded like.

“I think he was impressed. Normally when I show people around, they’re flabbergasted at the amount of detail that we go into. This is an exceptional facility put together by a group of really exceptional people.

“And the level of detail we go into on every single element, I think, is absolutely vital and trying to get where we aspire to get on the grid and on the podium.

“But when you share that detail with someone, their minds blow. They can’t quite believe how many elements that we dissect.”

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