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Red Bull Racing would have known that their new power unit would be the biggest barrier to a successful 2026 campaign.
Although Adrian Newey joined Aston Martin, and both Christian Horner and Helmut Marko had departed, the second half of last season showed Red Bull were more than capable of succeeding without them.
Max Verstappen’s added responsibility when it came to setting up the car once Laurent Mekies took charge coincided with an upturn in his form.
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Red Bull’s new car has some ‘extreme’ design concepts, and the first signs during the shakedown in Barcelona are that the car looks very competitive.
However, there were question marks about the new Red Bull Powertrains power unit, which has been built in collaboration with Ford and is making its debut this season.
The reliability of the DM01 engine was impressive in Barcelona, but journalist Ralf Bach has heard murmurings that there is still one major concern with the power unit that Red Bull are attempting to fix.
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Red Bull still concerned with power unit ‘drivability’ after Barcelona shakedown
Bach was speaking about Red Bull on the F1 Insider YouTube channel and explained: “That could be how the season’s duel turns out after this statement, couldn’t it? It’s a bit early, of course, but once again Mercedes has done a great job with the engine.
“You can already see that. They drove out and, yes, it was a harmonious engine, as eyewitnesses at the track reported to me, who, incidentally, were or are multiple world champions, and the others still have a bit of catching up to do.
Lewis Hamilton led the way in Barcelona but the gaps were tight!
Who impressed you most in the shakedown? ⬇️
“So, in terms of the engine, Mercedes is really good, and we’re talking about four teams here, and Red Bull has actually done a pretty good job considering they’ve just developed the engine from scratch together with Ford.
“It could have been worse, as far as the engine is concerned. There’s still some tuning work to be done.
“The drivability can still be improved. There are still a few rough edges, you could say, but basically, I think Verstappen was very satisfied.
“It could have been worse, and I think if Red Bull continues to develop, which seems to be going well, we’ll see a duel between Mercedes, some people also say McLaren, so Mercedes as the attacking team, McLaren and Max Verstappen.”
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Laurent Mekies says Red Bull are taking power unit work ‘step by step’ this season
Red Bull have enjoyed one benefit with their new power unit that fellow debutants Audi don’t have.
While Audi could only rely on their own data, Red Bull had the sister Racing Bulls car circling the Circuit de Catalunya as well, giving them 300 more laps of running to study.
Neither team had any major issues with the engine, with the biggest setback arriving when Isack Hadjar crashed at the end of day two.
Speaking about the event, Mekies was very pleased and said: “We knew it would be a very special moment to be here for the first time with the RB22 with our own power unit, so it came with that special atmosphere and tensions.
“The last few months and weeks have been incredibly hectic to be ready, but ultimately, we were ready on Monday morning to run.
“I can only take the opportunity to say a big thank you and well done to everybody back in Milton Keynes, chassis-side, power unit-side, because it was incredible to see the car going out at a few minutes past nine on Monday morning with our own power unit.
“We knew we have to do our homework and we have to do it step by step.”
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