Red Bull facing major 'disadvantage' in future fight with Ferrari

Christian Horner feels Red Bull will be entering into F1's new regulatory era with a 70-year disadvantage to Ferrari.

The Milton Keynes-based team is building its own in-house power units through the Red Bull Powertrains division ahead of the latest rules change for 2026.

The system sees the removal of the MGU-H, alongside improved electrical systems set to produce over 1,000bhp. Eco-fuels will also play a key role as F1 tries to become carbon-neutral by 2030.

It is part of a major revision of the regulations, with the cars themselves set to undergo significant changes. You can find a complete outline available here.

Horner has conceded his team is naturally adrift of Ferrari when it comes to the understanding of manufacturing power units.

Red Bull Powertrains

"We're on a steep learning curve, where we've got about 70 years of disadvantage to Ferrari," Horner told media including RacingNews365.

"We've got a great group of people, we're applying the same philosophy as we have on the chassis to the engine. It is a different challenge.

"There are no guarantees, and there is no knowledge of where anybody else is, with these new regulations, it is a clean sheet of paper, and we don't have the benefit of an existing engine to learn from.

"From a cost cap perspective, that is a disadvantage, but then at the same time, we don't have the distraction of the current engine, reliability fixes and so on that are having to be dealt with there."

There has been speculation RBPT's project is behind its targets but Horner is adamant that is far from the case, and only has praise for what he feels has been achieved so far in a short period of time.

"We are only really going to see [what happens] in 2026, but we are meeting our targets at this point in time," asserted Horner.

"With just under two years to run, if I look at the progress we've made in the last two years from a standing start, it has been very impressive.

"We don't even have any chassis rules yet, but if I was going to back any team to get the chassis right, I think we've got a reasonable track record.

"It is very bold what we've done, very brave and it is pretty ballsy, Red Bull wouldn't have won 117 races and done what we've done making bold decisions."