Red Bull, Vowles’ applause: “Great number of laps with their own power unit”

The Red Bull challenge For Red Bull, 2026 represents a leap into the dark, a challenge of enormous scope. For the first time in its history the Milton Keynes team takes to the track with a power unit designed and built in-house, in Red Bull Powertrains, with the help of Ford. And, judging from the first days of shakedown on the Montmeló circuit, the initial balance is very positive. Of course it is impossible to talk about performances, despite the fact that in the first two days Red Bull led the standings. The times, in fact, are not official. And even if they were, at this stage of the season they would have next to zero importance. However, the laps already recorded by the Red Bull Ford powered cars are significant: 392 in the first three days. Only Mercedes did better, but in Spain it can count on three teams. The fourth – Williams – remained in the pits due to development delays, and therefore team principal James Vowles was able to carefully watch his rivals’ moves: according to the Briton, Red Bull has made an impressive effort, which is already paying off. Vowles’ words “Red Bull has produced an engine from scratch, and it really cannot be underestimated. It has done a great job in the number of laps completed. It was impressive from the start, but the times in Barcelona will be largely irrelevant. Only in Bahrain will we start to see something”, these are the words of Vowles. The Williams team principal is confident about 2026 despite the initial setbacks: “I think we are ready for a good championship. Mercedes is doing well right from the start, respecting the program it announced and the mileage it had planned.” The Grove team will be on track in the Bahrain tests (first session from 11 to 13 February), which will be preceded by a filming day on the Sakhir circuit.