2026 will see a major change in regulations and F1 will enter a new era. It was reported by BusinessF1 that the FIA allegedly gave Audi the green light to dictate the terms of the new regulations to try and woo the German team. However, despite these allegations, Red Bull had claimed that they are way ahead of Audi in terms of the development of the new 2026 engine.
Last year, Audi announced that they would be entering Formula 1 in 2026, the year the new regulations will set in. The German giants partnered up with Sauber, who will continue in F1 as the works team of Audi.
🚨 BREAKING: Audi has acquired a minority stake in the Sauber Group ahead of its F1 entry in 2026 ✍️ pic.twitter.com/pMgv8332j4
— Autosport (@autosport) January 30, 2023
It is expected that Audi will enter all guns blazing and will have a decent car right from the start. This will be even more possible because all the teams would have to start from scratch because of the new engines that are set to be debuted in 2026. However, Red Bull thinks otherwise.
Red Bull claims to be far ahead of their rivals
Red Bull had been very outspoken about their opinion on the new engine regulations of 2026. The team had proposed various changes to the regulations, only to get criticised by their rivals. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff had quite notably stated that Red Bull wanted these changes because they were lagging behind in their engine development.
However, according to Dr. Helmut Marko, that is absolutely not the case and these claims are completely baseless. In an interview with Motorsport-Total.com, the Chief Advisor of Red Bull said, “We are miles ahead of Audi, we are miles ahead of Ferrari, and Mercedes is roughly on the same level.”
🚨 Red Bull’s 2026 engine is “miles ahead” of Ferrari & Audi, says Helmut Marko
“We are miles ahead of Audi, we are miles ahead of Ferrari, and Mercedes is roughly on the same level.”
“In August, we’ll have a complete internal combustion engine with MGU-K and battery running.”… pic.twitter.com/G3qwjAgCsT
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) August 14, 2023
Marko emphasized on the fact that Red Bull have partnered up with Ford and have a lot of bright minds working on the new engine. As per the Austrian, a prototype power unit with the MGU-K and the battery will be up and running by the end of August.
Red Bull’s issue with the 2026 regulations
The main issue that Christian Horner had raised with the 2026 regulations, is the increased reliance on battery power. It is expected that the new engines will run of 50% battery and 50% combustion engine. As per Horner, the FIA needs to take a look at this ratio.
The point of worry is that this increased reliance of battery power will not let drivers take their lap flat out because the car simply won’t be able to regenerate so much energy throughout the lap. Therefore, according to Red Bull, there would be a major effect on the competition and the sport might end up becoming boring.
