Red Bull-badged engine "commitment" revealed by Christian Horner

Red Bull

Red Bull-badged engine "commitment" revealed by Horner

Horner has confirmed for first time Red Bull will create its own engine

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Friday 30 April 2021 15:20

Christian Horner has confirmed Red Bull is 'committed' to producing its own engine bearing the team's name for the next powertrain regulations from 2025.

Red Bull is currently assembling a new factory and hiring technical engineering staff ahead of taking over Honda's intellectual property of its power unit after the Japanese manufacturer announced it would withdraw from F1 at the end of this season.

A week ago, the capture of former Mercedes High Performance Powertrains' head of engineering Ben Hodgkinson was announced.

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Now Horner has confirmed the team will be focused on producing a Red Bull-badged engine without aid from a new OEM.

"We are assembling an exceptionally talented group of people together and we are only at the beginning of that journey," said Horner.

"In terms of what the engine will be badged, at this point in time it is clearly focused at being a Red Bull engine.

"That is the commitment and that is the design group we are bringing together to focus on the new regulations."

With the prospect of situating its engine development centre at the heart of its Milton Keynes home, Red Bull will join Ferrari as the only teams to have a fully integrated manufacturing department.

Horner believes the move to combine the two areas will pay dividends as F1 evolves in the budget cap era.

"It is a big challenge but it is an exciting challenge and it is one we have fully embraced," added Horner.

"Other than Ferrari, it makes us the only team to produce both the chassis and engine in house and have a fully integrated solution between both technical teams. That is particularly exciting and attractive.

"We have, effectively, a soft landing thanks to the IP usage that we have a principle agreement with Honda for.

"It is exciting times. It puts Red Bull in a truly unique situation to have everything housed on one campus under one roof and to make use of those synergies.

"With cost caps potentially coming in for powertrains, it makes that achievable for a company such as our own."