The victory in Malaysia was not only Red Bull’s first triumph of the 2026 Formula 1 season, but also the first win with its own power unit. Former key figures Christian Horner, Helmut Marko, and above all, Dietrich Mateschitz deserve credit for the success, with Horner stressing that five years ago, the Powertrains project was still just “a hole in the ground”.
Red Bull’s internal combustion engine has been ranked by the FIA as the best in the field.
The team led by Laurent Mekies would logically have preferred that not to be the case, as it is now the only manufacturer missing out on a development token. But it does underline how Red Bull and Ford have surprised friend and foe alike with the way it has hit the ground running in its debut season.
It also raises the question of just how far the team’s own expectations have been exceeded, although Max Verstappen says he never went to either extreme in the build-up to 2026: neither the negativity surrounding a potentially disastrous year nor the suggestions that Red Bull would make a flying start.
“I would say that I was very neutral in that. I was not trying to be super optimistic, but also not negative, because, I mean, how would you know?” the Dutchman said when asked about Red Bull Powertrains’ impressive start by Motorsport.com.
“You trust that the people who have been hired, that they’re doing a good job. But I also never really tried to overthink. I just know it when the car is ready to go and the engine is ready to go.
“They have the facilities to deliver a very good engine because Red Bull invested a lot of money in that. I was not too stressed about it, but of course we are very happy now with how we started.
“It could have been much worse as we can see in other places in the paddock”, Verstappen said, referring to the current struggles of Red Bull’s previous engine partner Honda.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
“But at the same time we’re proud that we’re still working hard, because we know there are a lot of areas where we want to do better. That’s just the mentality that we have within the team.”
Due to the lack of an ADUO token, the latter cannot be achieved through hardware development, but that does not mean Red Bull and Ford are doing nothing behind the scenes. Numerous aspects of the software and energy management have been optimised race by race, contributing to the performance in Baku and Malaysia.
According to Isack Hadjar, those performances mark an enormous contrast with where Red Bull’s power unit project stood at the beginning of this year.
“Well, honestly, I remember the first lap I did with the engine in Barcelona. I was like, wow, this is going to be a long season”, Hadjar revealed when asked by Motorsport.com how impressed he is by the job the engine people have done.
“But it quickly recovered after that, and I think I don’t even really realise how impressive that is.”
With those final words, Hadjar is also referring to how the Jochen Rindt hall has been built from scratch. Of course, Red Bull has invested heavily in the facilities and also in the team led by Ben Hodgkinson – a team featuring numerous recruits from Mercedes – but even so, the progress made in such a short space of time is remarkable.
“I remember the beginning”, Hadjar said. “Basically the project started after I joined the junior team. I remember when I was going to Red Bull, there was literally just Red Bull Racing. And then within like six months there were two massive buildings and it started from there.
“I’m just very happy for all the boys and girls back home, even if sometimes an engine can be a bit frustrating [for a driver].”
By that, Hadjar means that a driver can influence development on the chassis side through feedback and preferences, but has far less influence when it comes to the power unit.
“When I’m talking about the chassis… The engine is something I can’t have much impact on as a driver, in terms of development and everything. Nowhere near as much as I can do on the car. I just have to depend on the team, and luckily my team is talented. I’m very happy with that.”
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: motorsport.com
