Ford responds to Wolff’s warning – The company has responded to recent comments made by Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff about Red Bull’s ambitious engine project for the 2026 Formula 1 season. Wolff compared Red Bull’s entry into engine manufacturing to “climbing Mount Everest”, highlighting the scale and complexity of the task.

While Ford race director Mark Rushbrook does not dispute this assessment, he remains confident that the project is progressing in the right direction.

From 2026, Max Verstappen and his teammates will compete with a power unit developed by Red Bull Powertrains in partnership with Ford. This marks a significant milestone for Red Bull, as it will become an engine manufacturer for the first time in its Formula 1 history.

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A new manufacturer in a competitive field

Red Bull will join Mercedes, Ferrari, Honda and newcomer Audi as one of the five power unit suppliers permitted under the new regulations. Red Bull’s decision to build its own engine operation was triggered when Honda initially announced its intention to leave Formula 1. Although Honda later reversed this decision, Red Bull had already invested heavily in the project and continued with its long-term plan.

Wolff has cautioned that Red Bull’s rivals should not underestimate the Milton Keynes-based team despite its lack of previous engine-building experience. He pointed out that Red Bull has a track record of succeeding where many once doubted them.

“Everyone laughed when Red Bull entered the sport,” Wolff said, recalling how an energy drink company went on to challenge and beat established giants such as Ferrari and Mercedes.

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Rushbrook: ‘A start-up, but with experience’

Rushbrook acknowledges the difficulty of the task ahead and agrees that Wolff’s comparison is not exaggerated.

“What Toto said is true. ‘This is a start-up.'” However, he stressed that Red Bull Powertrains is not starting from scratch. The project brings together specialists from multiple top-level motorsport and automotive programmes, blending fresh ideas with proven expertise.

According to Rushbrook, the real benchmark will only become apparent once the cars hit the track. ‘We think we’re in a good position, although we’ll only see the full picture once we’re running in real-world conditions,’ he said, highlighting the uncertainty that every manufacturer faces under the sweeping 2026 rules.

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Confidence despite potential shortfalls

Rushbrook also played down concerns that Red Bull-Ford could lag behind in terms of combustion engine performance. With the regulations forcing all manufacturers to rethink their designs, he believes that, if there is a deficit, it will be small. “Even if we fall behind a little with the combustion engine, we don’t think it will be significant,” he explained. ‘And we’re confident we can compensate in other areas.’

The 2026 regulations’ emphasis on electrification and energy recovery could provide opportunities to offset minor weaknesses elsewhere, a factor that Ford and Red Bull view as a potential strength.

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Verstappen and a new era

Former Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko previously stated that the move to in-house engine production was unavoidable following Honda’s initial exit announcement.

Now, Red Bull is entering a new era with Verstappen at the centre of its plans. In 2026, the Dutchman will be joined by Isack Hadjar, who will be his new teammate at the four-time constructors’ champions as Red Bull embarks on one of the boldest technical challenges in modern Formula 1.

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NEXT ARTICLE – FIA plans to reduce the power of the manufacturers

There is grave concern at the FIA over how the all new 2026 Formula One power units will perform. In a desperate bid to prevent an epic failure in the racing spectacle, F1’s governing body convened an emergency meeting with the manufacturers in Bahrain to correct the ‘over optimistic’ power output from the hybrid side of the new engines.

Concerns were first raised by Christian Horner in 2023 that the all new specification of power units would create “Frankenstein monsters” due to an over reliance on electrical output. Almost two years later the FIA’s pow wow in Bahrain sought to address this issue.

The problem is that at a number of circuits where braking is limited and the straights are long, that the cars will be incapable of generating enough electrical charge to deliver the mandated 50% of power output.

 

Concerns electrical output overstated

This would result in cars ruing out of electrical charge towards the end of the straights, visibly slowing the cars as they approached the next turn. The spectacle could be disastrous for the fans and the series would descend into farce.

Yet any reduction in the amount of electrical output had to be agreed by all but one of the PU manufacturers and such agreement could not be found. The result was both the FIA and FOM issuing statements suggesting the current F1 power cycle could be truncated and a return to V*’s introduced before even 2030.

Foiled by their attempt to introduce what would be a mere software adjustment for all the teams, the FIA issued a dictate in August which outlined how they would prevent F1 becoming a farce or dominated by a single manufacturer who has aced the new PU regulations.

FIA director of day to day operations, Nicolas Tombazis revealed: “We’ve introduced a…READ MORE ON THIS STORY