Max Verstappen expressed his pride in the performance of the engine developed by Red Bull Powertrains-Ford, highlighting the reliability of the new power unit in testing. The partnership with Ford marks a new chapter for Red Bull Racing, which now, in addition to being a chassis manufacturer, also develops its own engines starting from the 2026 Formula 1 season.
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“I don’t think the competitors expected our engine to work so well. They probably thought the engine would simply explode,” Verstappen commented on the reaction of the rival teams. “In that respect, we have done an excellent job and have everything under control. We can certainly be proud of that.”
Despite the initial success, the Red Bull driver was cautious about his expectations for the start of the season, which is approaching with the Australian GP on 08 March. Verstappen stated that the team still needs to improve to fight at the top: “At this moment, I don’t think we are going to compete for victories. But we also have to be realistic, it wasn’t our expectation at the start of these regulations with our own engine,” he said.
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The performance of the Red Bull Ford engine was praised by competitors such as Toto Wolff and George Russell, both from Mercedes, but Verstappen acknowledged that there is still a lot of work ahead: “I think we still need to take a step forward to really fight at the top,” he added.
Verstappen also pointed out areas such as data correlation and the impact of environmental conditions as aspects to be improved: “You always have to take into account the engine temperature and environmental conditions, which significantly influence the engine’s performance. In that respect, we can still move forward,” the Dutch driver concluded.
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