Red Bull Powertrains has admitted its inaugural Formula 1 engine is only four or five out of ten, according to technical director Pierre Wache.
Red Bull Grades Its First In‑House Engine
Wache, asked by RacingNews365, described the 1.6‑litre turbo‑charged V6 – the Red Bull‑Ford DM01 – as “about 40 to 50 % of the way to where it can be”. He added: “Absolutely, the potential is massive.”
FIA’s ADUO assessment revealed the DM01 delivered the highest output that season, a surprising benchmark for a power unit still a work in progress.
Building Power from the Ground Up
For two decades Red Bull sourced engines from Cosworth, Ferrari, Renault, and Honda. This season, the team, led by Ben Hodgkinson on engine and Pierre Wache on chassis, rolled out its first internal product in partnership with Ford.
The plant in Milton Keynes encompasses the entire build, while the chassis unit works on the RB22. Wache noted: “The collaboration and the integration within the team are taking time because the way we work is a little bit different.”
Engine development cycles outpace chassis timelines, so the engineering groups must adjust their perspectives and deadlines. Wache explained that “the lead time on a chassis is a lot quicker than an engine, so the way we see stuff is different.”
The Integration Challenge
Red Bull previously received a finished power unit and now must fit its chassis around an evolving engine program that operates on longer cycles. “So, I wouldn’t say it’s easier,” Wache added. “We have a lot more capacity and a lot more possibilities that we haven’t explored and exploited yet.”
Yet the spare capacity also holds promise. The team believes that owning the engine and chassis will grant unprecedented freedom and marked performance gains, though there is still a long way to go.
With the current rating, Red Bull is twice building systems and once horsepower, implying that improvement will come from refining both processes.
The road ahead will test whether Red Bull can transform its ambition into the performance it promises.
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