Red Bull Racing principal Christian Horner has described the F1 team's power unit project as the biggest investment it has made in its 17-year history. Ever since the team was created from the ashes of Jaguar F1, it has always partnered with an external engine manufacturer. However, after years of being a customer of the likes of Cosworth, Renault and Honda, Red Bull are set to go it alone from next year - with a PU of their own creation. "It's probably the biggest investment Red Bull have made in Formula 1 since acquiring the team from Jaguar back in 2004," Horner told Sky Sports when describing the team's commitment to a new engine division. "Here, we've created a campus and the latest addition to this campus is going to be bringing the engine business in-house here in Milton Keynes, building a brand new bespoke facility to house some of the best engineering talents in the business with a key focus on the future regulations. "It gives us a chance to fully integrate the powertrain into the chassis side of the business as well. Other than Ferrari, the only team to have engine and chassis all produced, manufactured, designed under one roof." One crucial piece of the puzzle for Red Bull's new powertrain operation will be personnel, and they've gotten off to the perfect start by luring one of Mercedes' best talents away from Brackley. Ben Hodgkinson previously worked for two decades on the Mercedes F1 power unit program, but he will soon join up with Red Bull to become technical director of their new engine operation. "Obviously Mercedes have done such a wonderful job, not just the last seven years with the hybrid era but also the years before that with the V8 [engines]," the Red Bull team boss continued. "Of course you do your due diligence, you look around at what is the talent, we have so much of that here based in the UK and Ben's [Hodgkinson] name absolutely came to the fore."
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