Red Bull to produce own F1 Power Unit

Could Red Bull really compete with the deep pockets of the major car manufacturers?

Rumor’s have descended upon F1’s world of engine manufacturing…

That right! As I’m sure you divulged from the title rumors surround another possible attempt for Red Bull to produce their own engine but was very quickly dismissed as not worth pursuing according to their motorsport adviser Helmut Marko.

In the previous week, the prestigious British car manufacturer Aston Martin hinted at a possible partnership with Red Bull…

However currently Aston do not have a race engine ready for the team to use, with Horner jokingly saying “Unfortunately Aston Martin don’t have an engine we can use although a V12 would be nice," so instead the team are pushing ahead with their Tag Heuer (Renault) engine.

But why is this news then? They have secured any kind of partnership (as of yet) well the rumors have gained more attention due to the fact their partnership with Tag is only a year so with Aston Martins help they could rush to produce their own.

“Some other companies were making turbos. They are all within one hour. There is enough know-how. But the costs and complexity of the whole thing…"

“We are not talking about an engine, we’re talking about a power unit which is far more complicated and these engine regulations are wrong"

“It’s too expensive, it’s too engineering driven, it doesn’t make the sound you need and the driver is more or less a passenger"

“The costs are enormous. We are talking about 250-300 people just to develop such an engine and we don’t know how long the regulations will go."

“We have options," he stated “We won’t be without an engine next year. We have an option, but we want a competitive engine, one that you can run at the front, that you can win with"

“There are still discussions to equalize power within two percent or bring the so-called independent engine in again"

“Let’s see what happens with the regulations and let’s see what development the engine we are using, which is a TAG Heuer, is doing this season."

So it’s in incredibly early stages but with Red Bull’s thirst to climb to the top and the angst to produce the fastest power unit I would keep an eye on Red Bull in the future…. f1.co.uk