Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has offered the team a major boost ahead of next year's new power unit regulations, by insisting its engine programme is "fully on track". For the first time in its F1 history, Red Bull will become an engine manufacturer from next season, powering itself and sister team Racing Bulls. The Milton Keynes-based outfit has been receiving technical support from Ford in preparation for the new regulations, and the development of its new powertrain. It had been widely speculated that Red Bull was behind in its preparations for the new regulations, with Mercedes expected to be at the front. However, Marko has insisted that the Austrian outfit is in a good position heading into next year, despite having a minimal power deficit. "It will be a huge change," Marko told Kleine Zeitung . "Mercedes has already declared itself the favourite, but everyone is playing along. "There won't be much difference in the combustion engine. We are fully on track, thanks in part to the help of Ford, and believe we have a maximum of five KW less. That is totally okay at the moment." The new regulations are a huge step into the unknown for F1, with several questions still needing to be answered and discovered. As pointed out by Marko, the software behind the new engines is where a team could gain a huge advantage; however, it is not a concern for Red Bull having signed personnel from engine experts Mercedes. "The big criterion is the battery," he added. "How is the battery cooled? How fast does it charge? How fast do you get the energy into the car? "It's mainly about the software and it may be that someone is way ahead in this area. But we have good people, many from Mercedes, and we bought the necessary equipment from AVL here in Graz. But nobody knows exactly where they really stand at the moment."
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