On the Tuesday before the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, a handful of media are welcomed into the Jochen Rindt building. It is home to the Red Bull Campus in Milton Keynes, where Red Bull Powertrains and Ford are working, along with hundreds of employees, on Red Bull’s 2026 engine project.
That year, the engine and chassis regulations will undergo a major overhaul in F1. On the engine side, the MGU-H will disappear, but the percentage of electrical energy will increase considerably to almost a fifty-fifty split with the internal combustion engine. The V6 will have to run on sustainable fuels.
An equally important change for Red Bull is the departure of Honda as an engine partner. Currently, all Red Bull Racing and RB engines are still produced in Japan. But with Honda joining forces with Aston Martin, Red Bull has taken its destiny into its own hands by creating its own engines, for the first time in its 20-year existence.
As the energy drinks giant faces its biggest challenge to date, Red Bull Powertrains offers a rare glimpse behind normally closed doors.
Red Bull Ford Powertrains
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
The day begins with a reception in MK7, the building that houses many Red Bull cars from previous F1 seasons. Afterwards it’s time to head to the Red Bull Powertrains facility, where Christian Horner and Ford Motorsports boss Mark Rushbrook explain that work on the building began in early 2022.
Work on the ICE (internal combustion engine) section began first, followed by the ERS department earlier this year, which deals with the engine’s electrical components that will become even more important with the 2026 regulations.
After being told that taking pictures is strictly prohibited – with the work in full swing – we head towards “Brodie’s Boulevard”.
This corridor is named after Steve Brodie, an employee who was one of the first to arrive from Mercedes HPP in August 2021 and played a major role in establishing the Powertrains facility. His official title is “Head of Power Unit Operations,” meaning Brodie is responsible for the ICE and ERS build shops to ensure Red Bull-Ford builds the cars to the right specifications, standards, and consistency.
One of the engines is visible immediately after entering. “This was the first combustion engine we built,” Horner explains. “This V6 was started in August 2022. Dietrich Mateschitz was able to listen to this first Red Bull engine shortly before he died. After his death, we decided to label all our engines as DM, so that Dietrich will always be at the heart of the Red Bull cars.”
Horner adds that, after initial discussions, the exposed engine played a major role in convincing Ford to join the project when negotiations between Red Bull and Porsche broke down. “When it became clear that it wasn’t going to be possible for Red Bull to work with Porsche, I literally got Christian Horner’s email address, sent him an email and said, ‘Hey, maybe you want to talk to us?’” Rushbrook explains.
This led to the current partnership, which is different from previous plans with Porsche. Ford does not claim to have a say in the F1 team like Porsche did. “We are not saying ‘you have to do it this way’. No, Red Bull has been in Formula 1 for years, so we ask them above all what they need from us to be successful together.”
“Based on our initial discussions, we would only contribute the electrical parts of the 2026 engine, but now we are also contributing the turbocharger and the test facilities for the combustion engine, also because Ford already had the knowledge or equipment for this.”
Brodie’s Boulevard leads to the engine store, where various engine parts can be found in order. From there it is on to the cleaning area and then to the construction shop, where the internal combustion engines are assembled. Since everything has to be flawless and precise, this assembly area is more like a laboratory than a normal workshop. One half is dedicated to a V6 engine, the other to a single-cylinder, used to make development more efficient.
“Obviously I’m a bit biased, but the setup we have here looks even more advanced than Mercedes,” smiles Brodie. “But that’s fair enough, as I’ve had a lot of freedom in designing this setup.”
Red Bull Ford Powertrains
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
On the testing side, Brodie is handing over to Florian Niehaves. The German engineer previously worked at AVL, where Red Bull also purchased engine structure equipment, and now works directly for the Powertrains project.
He leads us into the next room, which is somewhat reminiscent of space mission control. This is where the various test benches for the individual engine components are concentrated before they are assembled into the complete power unit.
In Formula 1, manufacturers have to adhere to very strict testing rules. Each engine plant can only have three test benches for a complete power unit, three for a single cylinder and two for the ERS. Red Bull Powertrains says it is close to the limit in terms of equipment.
With the infrastructure currently in place at Jochen Rindt’s building, Red Bull Powertrains says it can supply engines to a total of four F1 teams. That means there is room for two more customer teams in addition to Red Bull Racing and the RB team, although that is not the plan for 2026.
“We’ve been approached by a number of teams, some of them are looking to see who has the most competitive engine,” Horner explains. “But at the moment our focus is on the two Red Bull teams, because we want to walk before we run. If something comes up, then we’re open to the right partner.”
Horner adds that the financial rules for engine supply also need to change. “Because supplying an engine to a customer is a loss-making exercise based on FIA prices. I almost feel sympathy for Cyril now,” he jokes, referring to former Renault F1 boss Cyril Abiteboul, with whom he had a frosty relationship.
Red Bull Ford Powertrains
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
After the assembly and test areas, the tour is almost over, but Horner says: “This was not in the original plan, but let’s also take a look at the design offices.” Here too, taking pictures is strictly prohibited, because the screens are full of figures and design sketches that are too complicated for the humble journalists present, but interesting for the competitors.
The Red Bull Campus has grown significantly since the Jaguar team was acquired in 2005, with a total of 1,800 employees now working there. The journey has required more and more buildings in Milton Keynes, and the in-house engine project is set to be the final step.
After the frustrations with Renault’s performance and Honda’s decision to abandon it, Red Bull is aiming for this project to better integrate the engine and chassis and above all to no longer depend on an engine supplier.
“We are now taking our fate completely into our own hands. Apart from Ferrari, we are the only team in F1 to have the engine and chassis departments on the same campus for 2026. Mercedes also has two different sites,” Horner refers to Brackley and Brixworth. “It may seem like an impossible task, but we think it has long-term benefits.”
More important still is how competitive the engine will be, but that is a question no one in Milton Keynes or any other manufacturer can answer.
“We’re hitting all our goals and milestones right now, but we have no idea where our competitors stand,” Rushbrook says. “Our motto should be: under-promise and over-deliver.”
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