Racing Bulls boss Alan Permane has said that the Red Bull family has “no doubts” that its in-house Formula 1 powertrain will be competitive this season.
The Milton Keynes-based squad’s powertrains division has produced its first-ever power unit for the new regulations cycle, having previously maintained its previous Honda engines.
Expectations had been lowered initially during the early phases of development, largely due to the organisation’s inexperience, combined with the recent return of Ford to F1 after a two-decades-long absence.
But now, having managed to find a controversial loophole within the regulations – along with Mercedes – that could see the power unit produce extra horsepower over its rivals.
Now, a potential exploratory year with a lowly-set bar for Max Verstappen’s title hopes have been dealt a significant shot in the arm.
Speaking ahead of the 2025 season finale in Abu Dhabi, Permane exclusively told Motorsport Week that, in truth, Red Bull has not discussed what it would or wouldn’t be happy with in terms of results, but has utmost confidence that the powertrains will yield results.
“I think managing expectations is a tricky one,” he said. “We haven’t really talked about that sort of thing. I know in Red Bull Racing the expectations are obviously always high.
“We have high hopes, not even hopes, we are sure the powertrain will be good, we are sure it will be powerful, we are sure it will be reliable, so we don’t have any doubts.”
![Racing Bulls Team Principal Alan Permane [right] told Motorsport Week that everyone is confident the powertrains will be competitive. Image: Red Bull](https://www.motorsportweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Racing-Bulls-Red-Bull-Ford-1024x576.webp)
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Permane revealed that, at the time of speaking, the information delineated from the ‘shop floor’ have exuded reasons to be confident, and added that the additional testing allocated to teams this year will be an extra bonus for the finishing touches.
“The noises we hear coming out of our Red Bull powertrains are all positive,” he explained. “We have started working, of course, already with the local powertrain engineers and holding ops room sessions, simulator sessions with them, getting to know them.
“So we are already doing that and our staff [is] integrating together. The next phase will be the drivers, getting the drivers integrated with them as well.
“As I said, we’ve got that extra testing which will help us ahead of the next season.”
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