Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies believes the upcoming F1 2026 season will represent a \u201cbattle between giants\u201d with new teams and new power unit manufacturers arriving.<\/p>\n
Cadillac will be arriving on the grid in 2026, while Audi has been on track in Barcelona for the first time after it completed its full takeover of Sauber, with all the key players having been working on development on all-new machinery for the year ahead.<\/p>\n
Red Bull: \u2018Level of competition is just insane\u2019 as F1 2026 approaches<\/p>\n
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for news you can trust<\/p>\n Red Bull finished third in the Constructors\u2019 Championship and Max Verstappen took second in the Drivers\u2019 standings in 2025, with the front of the field often congested through the season.<\/p>\n It is a reset in 2026, however, with all-new chassis and power unit regulations as the teams are hard at work on finalising their new creations ahead of pre-season testing.<\/p>\n Red Bull<\/a> and sister team Racing Bulls will be the first to unveil their new colours at a launch in Detroit with new technical partner Ford on January 15 as Red Bull sets about making its own power units for the first time.<\/p>\n Mekies admitted the \u201ccrazy decision\u201d to go this way is a result of the team\u2019s cavalier attitude and looking to make the most of its talent, having established its Powertrains division several years ago.<\/p>\n With new teams blending with the previous talent on the grid, along with every constructor looking to reach the top of the new pecking order and an equalisation in resources through the sport\u2019s budget cap, Mekies is under no illusions about what a slugfest the next rule set could bring about.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re right in saying that it\u2019s a battle between giants, because that\u2019s what it is and sometimes we forget about it,\u201d Mekies told Red Bull\u2019s in-house Talking Bulls podcast.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a battle between giants. Seven, eight, nine car manufacturers next year, there is no small teams anymore. It\u2019s just insane. The level of competition is just insane.<\/p>\n More on the huge upcoming changes in the F1 2026 season<\/p>\n F1 2026 driver line-up: Which drivers are already confirmed for 2026?<\/a><\/p>\n F1 2026: Confirmed teams and power unit suppliers for huge regulation changes<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cBut fundamentally, we are a people business and you get the best people, and you try to put them in the best condition to work.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have incredible leaders. We have Pierre [Wach\u00e9] on the chassis side, we have Ben [Hodgkinson] on the power unit side. They have built incredible teams underneath them in their respective structures.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a fantastic set of support functions around them to make this team as much as a winning machine as possible.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, we absolutely do not underestimate the scale of the challenge. That\u2019s why we call it the most crazy decision one can take, to do your own power unit. Not by buying another manufacturer, but just by doing it on the field here, next door in the Milton Keynes campus.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we completely appreciate this kind of challenge of going against people who have been doing it for up to 90 years, so it\u2019s going to take a bit of time, but it\u2019s the Red Bull way.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s getting the best people doing it with the Red Bull energy, and doing it at the absolute limit, at the absolute maximum risk taking, and it will take us the time it will take us.<\/p>\n \u201cBut there is an unbelievable fighting spirit, racing spirit, pure spirit around here, and that\u2019s down to our people and to what Red Bull symbolise.\u201d<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n