Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies has admitted there has been attention from "a lot of teams" about his outfit's power unit performance. Earlier this year, the FIA deemed Red Bull to have the strongest engine, a contentious decision given Mercedes were granted an upgrade as they were more than two per cent behind Red Bull's internal combustion engine performance. This year is the first season Red Bull, in collaboration with Ford, have built their own power unit which very few expected to be competitive in 2026.
Mekies says the Red Bull-Ford Powertrains programme have done a "phenomenal job" after launching from "zero" in 2021 to build a competitive power unit in their first F1 season. People realise it's a very good engine. However, Mekies says it is better to concentrate on Red Bull and Racing Bulls, as they still have plenty of work to do to improve the power unit and refine its integration into the car.
There have been rumours that Aston Martin were looking into their future with Honda and even the possibility of taking a Red Bull-Ford power unit. Aston Martin have scored just seven points this season and are 10th in the Constructors' Championship.
Source: Sky Sports Champions League · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing