Since its entry into Formula 1 in 2005, the Red Bull he made no secret of wanting to do things big, to become one of the reference teams in the category. The results so far have been capital, with four drivers’ titles and as many manufacturers, with 72 victories in the grand prix. A huge number of successes, which puts the Austrian team in sixth place in the all-time ranking behind historic brands such as Lotus, Williams, Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari. But in recent years one of the main difficulties encountered by the team led by Christian Horner has been that relating to engines to be mounted, both in the period in which she found herself at loggerheads with Renault, and this season, after the official farewell to Honda at the end of the year.
Not being able to turn to the historic rivals of Mercedes and Ferrari, who would have little interest in having the same power unit as one of their main antagonists, for 2022 Red Bull has thus decided to create its own Powertrains division, effectively taking over the activity of Honda to produce the engines themselves. To do so, he has already started work in the Milton Keynes factory, in Great Britain, home of the team and this can only fill Christian Horner with pride: “What used to be an old warehouse is undergoing a small update”, the Englishman joked, explaining: “It will be the seat of the engine division. We are in the 25th week of work e everything will have to be ready for next April 2022. We are also aggressively recruiting the best talents and thanks to the synergy with the chassis side, we will be the only F1 team like Ferrari to have everything in one factory“.
Horner, in the statements collected by Channel4, then concluded: “We are taking control of our destiny. We have already shown that we can do it with the frame. Many already say: ‘How can an energy drink make an engine competitive?’. But that’s the motivation to show them that we can do it. Time will give its answers ”.