---
title: "Red Bull had ‘exploratory discussions’ with Ferrari over F1 engine deal"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2021/07/01/red-bull-had-exploratory-discussions-with-ferrari-over-f1-engine-deal/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Hamilton Lyndon-Griffiths"
section: "F1 News"
published: "2021-07-01T09:11:21Z"
modified: "2021-07-01T09:11:23Z"
---

# Red Bull had ‘exploratory discussions’ with Ferrari over F1 engine deal

Red Bull held talks with Ferrari over a Formula 1 engine deal before deciding to build its own power unit division, team boss Christian Horner revealed.

Following engine supplier Honda’s shock decision to quit F1 at the end of 2021, Red Bull was left to consider its options going forward.

The Milton Keynes-based outfit came to the conclusion building its own in-house engine was the best solution, and announced in February the creation of Red Bull Powertrains.

Red Bull will takeover Honda’s F1 project from 2022, with the deal set in stone once F1 teams agreed to an engine freeze before the new power unit regulations arrive in 2025.

Horner explained how Red Bull went to existing manufacturers to secure a future engine deal, with Ferrari being “the most willing” to supply its engines but wasn’t keen on becoming a customer team.

“The most natural thing was to have a discussion with the existing suppliers,” Horner told the Beyond the Grid podcast.

“Mercedes was a very short conversation and Toto \[Wolff, team principal\] obviously wasn’t particularly keen on that one.

“In fact Renault – their aspirations as a team didn’t include supplying a team like Red Bull, and probably the most willing was Ferrari.

“And, you know, we had some exploratory discussions, but to be a customer, so to have to accept all the integration, particularly with the new regulations coming, would be a massively hard pill to swallow.

“So that’s when we started to explore the possibility: OK, how do we take on this challenge in a Red Bull manner and see if we can put a deal together with Honda in the foreseeable future?

“The freeze was fundamental to that, otherwise we wouldn’t have had the capacity to develop an engine.”

Horner said after careful consideration it became clear that running Honda’s IP was the “the only call” in order for Red Bull to remain competitive.

Red Bull has already hired several key engine staff from rivals Mercedes for its Powertrains operation, including signing Ben Hodgkinson as the programme’s technical director.

“It’s a big step, it’s a bold step, to take control of our own destiny as an engine supplier and bring the whole lot under one roof in Milton Keynes, it would make us the only team other than Ferrari to have the whole lot within one facility,” Horner said.

“In terms of a sell, I think he \[Dietrich Mateschitz, Red Bull owner\] reached that conclusion himself – that we had no choice – and Helmut \[Marko\] was obviously very supportive and pushing hard for it.

“It was absolutely the right call. In reality, for us to remain in a competitive position, it was the only call.”