Red Bull’s motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has admitted they seriously considered designing and manufacturing their own engines for Formula One.
Red Bull had poor 2014 and 2015 seasons with the introduction of hybrid power units following four consecutive years of success with V8 engine power. Red Bull was aware early on in 2014 that their engine supplier Renault was going to struggle to build a competitive and reliable V6 Hybrid power unit, which they did.
Once Red Bull knew Renault would struggle to supply a competitive and reliable power unit they pursued the possibility of making their own power units only to come to the conclusion it was not feasible.
“We looked at it but we very quickly found out it wasn’t for Red Bull,” said Marko to Autosport.
“[It was] when we had the first tests in 2014. We were looking at it, investigating it.”
When pushed on whether Red Bull asked for help in manufacturing their own power units Marko said.
“Some other companies were making turbos. They are all within one hour.
“There is enough know-how. But the costs and complexity of the whole thing…
“We are not talking about an engine, we’re talking about a power unit which is far more complicated and these engine regulations are wrong.
“It’s too expensive, it’s too engineering driven, it doesn’t make the sound you need and the driver is more or less a passenger.
“The costs are enormous. We are talking about 250-300 people just to develop such an engine and we don’t know how long the regulations will go.”
Following a troubling 2015 season, Red Bull looked set to cut ties with Renault, but after the team couldn’t find a new power unit supplier for 2016 they were forced to revert back to the French manufacturer for another season. With the deal set to expire at the end of this season, many are wondering what Red Bull will do in 2017 but Marko is not worried.
“We have options, we won’t be without an engine next year.
“We have an option, but we want a competitive engine, one that you can run at the front, that you can win with.
“There are still discussions to equalise power within two percent or bring the so-called independent engine in again.
“Let’s see what happens with the regulations and let’s see what development the engine we are using, which is a TAG Heuer, is doing this season.”
