The next big Formula One regulation change will occur in 2026 with the arrival of the new F1 power units. There are six manufacturers who have declared they will be producing powertrains and Red Bull Racing are one.

Having dominated Formula One with Renault over the last four seasons of the V8 engines (2010-13) Red Bull were burned at the introduction of the V6 hybrids from 2014.

 

 

Red Bull decide to build F1 PU’s

Renault failed to invest properly in the R&C for the highly complex hybrid powertrains which saw they French units deliver a lack of power and reliability from the get go.

Red Bull switched to Honda as soon as they were released by McLaren and have since claimed three world championships in partnership with the Japanese manufacturer.

Yet Honda have a love/hate history with Formula One and decided in 2020 that they would be withdrawing yet again from the sport come the end of 2021.

The combined effect of the Renault and Honda years forced Red Bull Racing to decide the future was to build their own power units. At least then they were masters of their own destiny and we beholden to no one.

 

 

McLaren rumour of Red Bull Poewrtrain

While the 2022 power unit listed with the FIA was badged as a Red Bull Powertrain in reality it is a frozen Honda power unit and the partnership will continue until the end of 2025.

Red Bull Powertrains will clearly be in the back of both Alpha Tauri and RBR F1 cars in 2026, though as a manufacturer RBPT can reduce their unit cost of building power units by selling theirs on to customer teams.

At present Haas, McLaren and Williams are to declare who their future power unit supplier will be.

The recent amicable recruitment by McLaren of Red Bull’s Rob Marshall set the rumour mill alive with suggestions that Red Bull would be supplying McLaren with their next generation hybrid engine.

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Honer denies RBPT customer teams

However, Christian Horner has denied there is a engine deal with McLaren.

“No, Rob is not leaving with an engine if that’s what you mean,” Horner said with a laugh to reporters according to Dutch Motorsport.com.

“But it is true that we have already been approached by several teams to supply engines to them from 2026.

 

New F1 teams approach RBPT

Horner reveals Red Bull are prepared to take the cautious route into F1 engine supply and not take on any customer teams initially.

“Currently our plan is to provide engines to only two teams in 2026. This is mainly because we don’t want to overburden our department immediately in the first year.

“And yes, if we will only supply two teams with engines, it is very likely that these will be Red Bull’s own two teams.”

However, Horner’s comments about “several teams” approaching RBPT has created some intrigue.

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New team FIA dealing moved

While the three existing teams are yet to announce their supplier, it is highly likely Haas will remain a Ferrari customer which leaves two current Mercedes supplied teams to declare.

This is not “several” teams and so Horner is implying one or more of the new F1 applicants has approached Red Bull and enquired about a power unit supply.

The original FIA deadline for new team applications was April 30 this year, though it was announced this would be extended to 15th May for administrative reasons.

This would have been followed by an announcement on June 30th by the FIA about which if any teams would progress to join the F1 grid.

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Four potential full applications

The full application process is much more detailed and comes with a much larger %300,000 fee, although the FIA have not announced how many teams have progressed this far.

Whilst multiple parties have expressed interest there are two who are considered in th paddock as serious contenders.

The Andretti-Cadillac collaboration, which was announced months ago, is expected to have formally applied along with the Hitech organisation. Currently a junior single-seater empire, Hitech set its plans to bid for an F1 entry in motion a long time ago.

In addition to these is the Panthera Team Asia who had recruited senior personnel for their bid along with former BAR team boss Craig Pollock who recently revealed he had a gender equal team project named Formula Equal in the pipeline.

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New entrant fee set to rise to $800m

The row between the FIA and the teams over new entrants for now appears to have quietened down. The teams are concerned their big investments over the years will be diluted by any additional entries.

Andretti is pushing to join in 2025 because the current Concorde agreement has set an anti-dilution fee of $200m to be paid to the existing ten teams.

Of course there will be a new Concorde agreement in place for 2026 when the new power unit manufacturers like Ford and Audi will join F1. However, the existing teams are believed to be refusing to sign the new agreement unless the new entrant fee is increased to between $600-800m.

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From P12 to the podium 🥉💪

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