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Red Bull Powertrains' technical director, Ben Hodgkinson shared his thoughts on Mercedes' advantage in the 2026 engine regulations. Addressing the issue, Hodgkinson, under whom Red Bull has reportedly done a remarkable job, admitted that the Silver Arrows will have a huge advantage with the engine.
Hodgkinson comes with ample experience working with Mercedes. He was involved with the Mercedes High Performance Powertrains for over 20 years, and was one of the forces behind Mercedes' dominant post-hybrid era, where they won eight Constructors' Championships, and helped its drivers claim seven Drivers' titles.
Banking on his experience, Hodgkinson is certain that the Silver Arrows, an expert in the engine side of things, will have a tremendous advantage under the new engine regulations. Speaking about this, the British engineer, who is now in charge of Red Bull Powertrains, said on The Inside Track podcast:
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"Mercedes will probably perform well. They're a good company with good people, and they have a tremendous amount of experience. I think a fair amount of the power unit is comparable to the current generation. They were probably able to start testing much earlier than we were. That gives them a huge advantage."
"There are more than 20,000 components in a power unit. Normally, when you go from one season to the next, you might design or redesign 600 new ones. But what we had to do was redesign every single part, and that was quite a lot of work in the beginning," Hodgkinson further added, stating the extra bit of work the Austrian team had to pull off.
The Austrian team will officially part ways with their engine partner, Honda, at the end of the 2025 F1 season. As a result, they will race with the engine provided by their factory, the Red Bull Powertrains from next season onwards.
Max Verstappen impressed with 2026 Red Bull engine development
Max Verstappen, the star Red Bull driver was reportedly impressed with how Red Bull put their steps forward. Speaking about it in the podcast, Ben Hodgkinson revealed that Verstappen heard the sound of the 2026 engine, and found it impressive.
"I think he was impressed with where we were," Hodgkinson said. "He was able to see some running engines doing laps, so he got to hear what the '26 power unit would sound like. I think he was impressed. This is an exceptional facility put together by a group of really exceptional people. The level of detail we go into on every single element, I think is absolutely vital in trying to get where we aspire to get on the grid and on the podium."
Max Verstappen is set to stay with the Milton Keynes-based team in 2026 after deciding on his future a couple of months back. However, the Austrian team has yet to announce Verstappen's partner for next season under the new regulations.
