F1 2026: Confirmed teams and power unit suppliers for F1\u2019s huge regulation changes<\/a><\/p>\nWith Red Bull becoming a stand-alone manufacturer for the first time in its history, emulating the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes, Mekies admitted last week that comments from Mercedes\u2019 boss Toto Wolff that Red Bull is facing an \u201cEverest to climb\u201d are correct.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what it is. It\u2019s as crazy as it gets to take the decision to do your own power unit, as Red Bull has done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an unbelievable challenge to be associated with. It\u2019s the sort of crazy stuff Red Bull does \u2013 so it\u2019s a good feeling. But we don\u2019t underestimate how crazy it is.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be silly from our side to think we\u2019re going to come here and, right from the start, be at Ferrari\u2019s or Mercedes\u2019 level. That would be silly.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s being set up the Red Bull way \u2013 at the maximum possible level. We take it step by step. We are trying to ramp up as quickly as possible \u2013\u00a0both the PU and the structure that goes around the PU: the people, the infrastructure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen, as I said, we expect a year with a lot of hard work, a lot of sleepless nights next year to try to get to the right level. But it\u2019s a challenge that very much feels like a Red Bull challenge, and we love that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not going to put a number on where we think we\u2019ll be \u2013\u00a0because I don\u2019t think anybody has a number \u2013\u00a0but we know we\u2019re starting with a mountain to climb, as Toto said.\u201d<\/p>\n
Red Bull Powertrains\u2019 efforts are in collaboration with global OEM giant Ford, with Ford Racing Global Director Mark Rushbrook explaining to PlanetF1.com how he feels the relationship between the two sides has evolved over the years since the announcement of their partnership.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s three years since the discussions happened, almost three years in terms of what was signed and committed, but we were in helping before everything was even signed,\u201d he said, during the Italian Grand Prix weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s at the point now where it\u2019s a very natural relationship because we\u2019re so far into it, and, once you\u2019ve rolled your sleeves up and you\u2019re in the trenches, it\u2019s a very natural, comfortable relationship.<\/p>\n
\u201cBen Hodgkinson is a leader for Red Bull Powertrains, with integration with our team, with the number of trips back and forth, or people on site, and just the communication. It\u2019s an integrated team at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n
A recent change in the make-up of the project came about due to the removal of Christian Horner, with the British executive having been a catalyst for the partnership in the first place. Removed from his posts as team boss and CEO of Red Bull Racing, Horner has also since been removed from his directorship roles across all the F1 effort\u2019s companies, including Red Bull Powertrains.<\/p>\n
With Mekies promoted into the positions left open by Horner\u2019s removal, Rushbrook explained that there is a different feel at the Milton Keynes campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew Laurent, obviously, from where he was in VCARB, and we certainly respect and appreciate him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s certainly a different feel within the campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I think, at this point, everybody is just focused forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re racers, we\u2019ve got to go and develop the best power unit, the best car for 2026. Obviously, we\u2019re putting forward a great effort for 2025, running out the current regulations.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I think the team, it\u2019s a bunch of racers, and they\u2019re focused on continuing to win races and championships going forward.<\/p>\n
Read Next:\u00a0Why Yuki Tsunoda\u2019s Red Bull F1 destiny is still something he can control<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen paid a visit to Red Bull\u2019s Powertrains facility in Milton Keynes on Thursday, as part of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,4405,818,14758,825,44,918,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-138848","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-helmut-marko","14":"tag-home-page","15":"tag-laurent-mekies","16":"tag-max-verstappen","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-red-bull","19":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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