Christian Horner warning dismissed as Red Bull ‘surprise’ tipped
Former McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya has tipped Red Bull to spring a “surprise” with its new power unit for the F1 2026 season.
It comes after Christian Horner, the recently departed Red Bull team principal, admitted that it would be “embarrassing” for rival manufacturers if the team produces a stronger engine at the first attempt.
Red Bull tipped to ‘surprise’ in F1 2026 despite Christian Horner admissionRed Bull will produce its own engines for the first time in F1 2026 via its newly established Powertrains division, working in collaboration with US giant Ford, as current supplier Honda enters a new partnership with the Aston Martin team.
RBPT-Ford will take on the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda along with newcomers Audi F1, which will rebrand the existing Sauber team, in F1 2026.
An alarming report in April claimed that only one engine manufacturer – believed to be Mercedes – is in ‘good shape’ for F1 2026 with its rivals all struggling to varying degrees with the development of their new powertrains.
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It was said that two manufacturers are ‘a long way behind’ the clear pacesetters, with another struggling with an uncompetitive engine having settled on a different form of biofuel compared to its rivals, which have all opted for synthetic fuel.
Mercedes previously emerged as F1’s dominant force following the last major engine rule changes in 2014, winning a record eight consecutive Constructors’ titles and seven Drivers’ crowns split between Lewis Hamilton (2014-15 and 2017-20) and Nico Rosberg (2016).
Montoya is convinced that Red Bull will produce a competitive engine for Max Verstappen next season having recruited “all the top people” from Mercedes and Ferrari over recent years.
Yet he believes the absence of Adrian Newey, who left Red Bull for Aston Martin last year, will hurt the team’s preparations for F1’s new era.
Montoya told a gambling platform: “On the engine side Red Bull have the right people.
“The question is: have they come together in time to build the engine?
“I think they might surprise people with the power unit and that it might not be as bad as people think it is.
“They took all the top people from Mercedes, the top people from Ferrari, people from everywhere.
“They have a massive amount of information. It takes time to collate and integrate.
“The problem now for Red Bull next year is that, before, you had one guy Adrian Newey that made the final decision on what went on the car.
“Now everybody’s coming with new ideas, everybody’s trying things.
“And at the end of the day, the guy leading the direction [Pierre Waché, technical director] is a different guy.
“What does Red Bull do now?
“You’re putting really good people in charge, but really good people with no experience of being in charge.
“You lose Christian, Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley; that’s a huge loss of leadership.
“It’s going to take three or four years for them to come back to the dominance they had.
“Like we have seen at Adidas, in business, a new CEO came in and it took him over a year just to understand the problems. Now they are flying.”
More on Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing from PlanetF1.comIn an exclusive interview with PlanetF1.com last year, Horner described Red Bull’s engine division as “by far the biggest challenge” the team has faced since it arrived on the grid in 2005.
Speaking at what proved to be his final race in charge of the team, last month’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Horner conceded that it is unlikely that Red Bull will outshine the existing engine manufacturers in F1 2026.
Yet he insisted that Red Bull’s in-house engine facility will bring important competitive benefits to the team over the long term.
He told media including PlanetF1.com: “Things go in cycles and sport goes in cycles.
“We’ve had two incredibly successful cycles in Formula 1 and what we want to do is build towards the next cycle.
“Now, of course, we want that to be with Max, but we understand the pressure that there is next year with us coming in as a new power unit manufacturer.
“The challenge of that is enormous. But we’ve got a hugely capable group of people. We’ve invested significantly. We’ve got a great culture within the team.
“Who knows? To expect us to be ahead of Mercedes next year is [unrealistic].
“It would be embarrassing for Mercedes if we were, or for any manufacturer.
“But I think we’re going to be in a competitive position, potentially even to where we are today relative to our other PU manufacturers.
“There’s everything to play for. What’s great is having it all under one roof; chassis engineers sitting next to engine engineers.
“That shouldn’t be underestimated when you’re talking about the packaging.
“When you’ve got the ability to have those groups communicating and talking with each other directly over a cup of coffee and within the same facility, that is priceless and that will pay dividends.
“Maybe it won’t be in ’26, but ’27, ’28, and beyond, long term for Red Bull, 100 per cent it is the right thing.”
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