Red Bull’s Engine Boss Admits Challenges in Catching Up to Competitors
Max Verstappen’s world championship hopes depend on how fast Red Bull have caught up to their competitors as they produce their own power units for the first time, their engine boss admits. The team is embarking on the huge challenge of producing their own power units in partnership with Ford, after being powered by Honda in previous seasons.
Team principal Laurent Mekies believes the team will be “trailing” its rivals at the start of the season. Verstappen was forced to surrender his crown to Lando Norris in last season’s finale in Abu Dhabi, having dominated the sport in winning four successive titles. Red Bull Ford Powertrains technical director Ben Hodgkinson is confident that the work has been done to enable them to compete at the front of the grid.
Confidence and Challenges
“I’ve been doing this for 27 years, so everything I do has got to be backed up by the belief I can do it,” Hodgkinson said. “I don’t think you belong in this industry if you don’t believe that. I also, it’s almost part of my own personal ethos, but I think that if you show me a confident engineer, I’ll show you one that’s about to lose.” Hodgkinson emphasized the importance of assuming they are behind their competitors and pushing to the absolute maximum.
Red Bull started their power unit production from scratch, bringing in over 700 people to work on the project and building three factories. The team are up against established and experienced manufacturers in Mercedes, Ferrari, and Honda. Much of the talk ahead of the new season has been that Mercedes-powered teams will be ahead of the pack.
Red Bull’s Chances
But Hodgkinson, who spent over 20 years at Mercedes, is not convinced that is the case. “I think a lot of that talk originated from Mercedes themselves. My gran used to say, an empty can rattles the loudest,” Hodgkinson said. “We’ll let the results do the talking, I think. Mercedes are a very competent power unit manufacturer. I spent 20 years there. So I know it very, very well.” Hodgkinson believes that Red Bull has done everything to be better than their competitors, and the results will show that.
Mekies urged fans to “bear with us” at the start of the season, as the team knows it’s going to come with some difficulties. “We know it’s going to come with some difficulties,” he told Sky Sports. “We know we are going to have quite a few sleepless nights and a few headaches, but please bear with us for the first few months.” Red Bull is aware of the size of the mountain they have to climb, but they are hopeful that eventually, they will come out on top.
Information from PA contributed to this report.
