Red Bull’s F1 engine programme ‘on target’

After a stint with Honda that delivered four drivers’ titles and two constructors’ championships, Red Bull will compete with its in-house power unit in 2026, in partnership with Ford.

Although Ford Performance director Mark Rushbrook acknowledges that the project – as Toto Wolff put it in Zandvoort – “has Mount Everest to climb”, he believes the preparations in Milton Keynes have been as optimal as possible.

“We are to plan, so where we need to be, but it all comes together when it’s actually in the car and on track,” Rushbrook told Motorsport.com in an exclusive interview.

“So that first day of testing is an important date, and an important week. It’s when we get to see how all this hard work in the past three years is going to pay off.”

The first major test will be the start of winter testing in Barcelona, which takes place behind closed doors, for both fans and media. Asked whether Ford feels any nerves ahead of that test, Rushbrook continued:

“There’s always some level of nervousness or anticipation anytime there’s a new car or engine on track. Our computer tools are great for designing; our labs are great for evaluating and developing the hardware, and the calibration that goes with it, so we can simulate a lot in those environments. But until you get it all together on an actual racetrack, you haven’t seen everything. And it’s a question of what are you going to see on track that you didn’t see in the lab.”

Rushbrook previously explained that the development of the 2026 engine has been carried out step by step: first trying to extract a bit more power, then bringing reliability to the desired level, and once that was achieved, trying to extract a bit more power again.

Moreover, he emphasised that power and reliability are far from the only aspects. Lately, focus behind the scenes has shifted to another element as well: drivability – the feeling the driver gets from the new power unit and how user-friendly it is.

“It’s the power, the performance, the reliability, and then it’s the drivability, in terms of the software and the calibration,” he explained. “When it comes to the timelines that were developed early-on in the programme, we’ve been hitting those.

“The work right now is the details of that calibration and the drivability, some of which can be done in the computer, some can be done in the lab and some in the simulator together with the drivers. That’s where the focus is on now.”