Red Bull braced for 'sleepless nights' after '90 years' warning issued

Red Bull is braced for "sleepless nights" as it takes on rivals with a "90-year" advantage in producing racing engines, according to boss Laurent Mekies.

For the first time, Red Bull has created its own in-house engine for F1, with the DM01, named after late founder Dietrich Mateschitz, set to be run in the 2026 season.

Red Bull Powertrains has partnered with Ford for the project, with the American giant providing technical support as RBPT becomes the only non-manufacturer-backed team to produce an engine for the 2026 rules.

Former boss Christian Horner spoke of RBPT being on the back foot as rivals, such as Ferrari and Mercedes, had decades of experience in building racing engines, as his successor, Mekies, detailed how Red Bull plans to work through the pain it expects to come in the early stages of the season. 

"After everything we have said in describing the size of the challenge in starting from scratch, I think going into the first race and straight away being at the level of competitors [who have produced engines] for 90 years would be naive," Mekies explained.

"We are not naive. We know it is going to come with a fair amount of struggle, headaches, and sleepless nights, but that's what we're here for.

"We have the confidence of putting together an amazing group of people, an amazing group of partners, and we will go through this struggle, and eventually, we will come out on top.

"Bear with us in the next few months, and I think these initial difficulties will be good reminders of how much we went through to eventually get on top."

Ford CEO Jim Farley added that Ford's "clear test" was to know exactly how and where to support Red Bull.

"For us at Ford, the test is to be clear enough that Ford knows exactly what we need to do to support the Red Bull team," he said.

"That's the most important thing, that we know exactly how we can help and make our first race a success, and the first part of the season a success. That is the clarity of our work."