Red Bull Racing eyes 'best talent' to develop engines from 2022 onwards

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner said the team will be targetting the ‘right and best’ talent for their engine division. Red Bull Racing have relied solely on engines from other manufacturers since they entered Formula 1. However, they will make their own engines from 2022 onwards. Current engine suppliers Honda will exit the sport in 2021 and Red Bull will take over the project from then. Horner said that they will use an approach similar to what they did when creating their chassis. At the time, they brought in Aidrian Newey – best known for his time at McLaren – and the results bore fruit.

“We will be applying exactly the same philosophy that we did to the chassis side,” Horner told Motorsport.com.

“So the intention, exactly as I did with the chassis, is to make sure we attract the right talent and the best talent.

“It’s tremendously exciting. Obviously with the engine freeze it was important as a safeguard for what will effectively be an interim period.

“But for the new engine, whenever that comes, potentially 2025, we’re obviously building up a structure.

“We’re going to inherit some great people and talent from Honda, but we are absolutely committed to getting the right people in the right roles in an efficient manner that integrates fully with the chassis side of the business.”

Engine factory in the works

Red Bull will also be constructing an engine factory close to their team base at Milton Keynes. This will make them the first side besides Ferrari to have their team and engine base that close. Ferrari have operated their entire set-up from Maranello, Italy for years now.

“At the end of the day, F1 is still a team sport. It’s a people sport. And that’s one of the fundamental reasons that we’re housing our facility on site within the campus in Milton Keynes.

“It’s to make sure that there is this seamless integration between powerunit and chassis.”

Red Bull are currently expected to compete for the world driver’s championship in 2021. Star driver Max Verstappen won the Emilia Romagna GP two weeks after finishing second in the Bahrain GP.

Verstappen currently trails Lewis Hamilton of the Mercedes F1 team by just the one point.