Laurent Mekies has revealed that the RB22’s competitiveness with Red Bull’s new power unit could have a surprising impact on motivating Max Verstappen.
Red Bull embarks on a new chapter in 2026, debuting its own Formula 1 power unit in collaboration with new partner Ford.
Far from an easy task, Red Bull Powertrains was set up in February 2021, work beginning immediately at the team’s Milton Keynes base to create an engine facility.
Chasing the opportunity to have full power unit independence, it announced a partnership with Ford in 2023, the American giant assisting with elements of the new power unit.
2026 sees the debut of the collaboration’s efforts, as Ford prepares for its full F1 comeback since selling Jaguar at the end of 2004, ironically, to Red Bull.
Team Principal and CEO Laurent Mekies believes the decision to run as an independent power unit manufacturer was the correct one, despite the potential impact on Max Verstappen’s future.
“I would say that probably I don’t think anybody else that would be able to make that decision”, he said at the Autosport Business Exchange to delegates, including Motorsport Week.
“So anyway, to your point, in that context it would be naive to think that you turn up in the first place and here we are.
“You are at the same level as people who have been doing it for 90 years.
“It would be very naive. We are not naive. We love to scale the challenge.
“It will come with a lot more sleepless nights and a lot more headaches. And you know, we think we have the best people, we think we have the best partners, we think we have excellent infrastructures.
“So, it will take us some time, it will take us some pain, it will take us some struggle, but we are again lucky enough to be working for a company like Red Bull that looks at the boldness of the visions and perhaps be less at the short term results.
“So, eventually…we will be looking back at the initial struggle and that will be a good reminder of the scale of the challenge.”
Can Ford alliance keep Max Verstappen at Red Bull?
Given the possibility of the power unit alliance with Ford getting off to a slow start, questions could be asked over the future of Max Verstappen.
Mekies revealed that the Dutchman is aware of the experiment Red Bull is undertaking with Ford, and is aware of the risks.
“I think we got that question pretty much every race last year,” he joked when asked about the Dutchman’s future.
“I would expect us to get it also every race this year, but no, seriously, you know, one of the many incredible things with Max is that he’s not sitting outside of the project, watching what we do and judging what we do, he’s in the project.
“He takes the risk with us.He’s aware of the risk taking. He’s aware that when he takes risks, he’s not going to fall.
“He’s aware of the scale of the challenge, and he lives and breathes motorsport more than a large part of us. He is motorsport.
“Honestly, that’s, you know, he’s day and night thinking motor racing, if it’s not Formula 1, it’s the GT3, if it’s not the GT3, it’s the virtual races, whatever he comes up with next.
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