Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admitted “it’s going to take time” to take on the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes in the power unit department, with the team in the process of constructing their 2026 powertrain.

He remained adamant Red Bull Powertrains can “absolutely” challenge the established marques in the sport when Formula 1 changes both its chassis and power unit regulations in 2026, but acknowledged this step is “by far our biggest challenge.”

Christian Horner: Red Bull power unit project ‘by far our biggest challenge’

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Red Bull announced a partnership with Ford that will see the team build its own power units for the first time in 2026, when their current technical partnership with Honda comes to an end.

Honda will be switching to Aston Martin to become their factory power unit partners from 2026 onwards, with Horner describing the decision to reset both the engine and chassis regulations in the same season as the largest change the sport has seen in “probably the last 60 years.”

While expressing faith in the project that has been put together, Horner acknowledged the size of task in front of Red Bull in producing a competitive power unit from the off in 2026.

“We’ve got a massive regulation change, they’re changing the engine and the chassis in ‘26 and we’re building our own engine for ‘26, in partnership with Ford Motor Company, and that’s a huge challenge,” Horner explained on talkSPORT.

“So we’re taking on Ferrari and Mercedes, you know, as a subsidiary of Red Bull, and that is by far our biggest challenge in the sport.

“But we’ve got the right group of people, we’ve got the right facilities, and most importantly, we’ve got the right mindset and culture and a can-do attitude to say, ‘look, we can take them on.’

“It’s going to take time, but we can absolutely do it.”

With 2025 shaping up to be a season in which several teams converge as the current regulations mature, Horner joked separately that these regulations are changing at a time the sport is becoming more competitive.

But given it is a change being undertaken by every team on the grid, all 10 constructors, which will become 11 with the arrival of Cadillac in 2026, will be facing the same task.

“I mean, Formula 1 is very good at that, changing the rules just as things are getting spicy,” Horner quipped to media including PlanetF1.com in Abu Dhabi.

“I mean, 2026 is the biggest reset in probably the last 60 years of Formula 1, where both powertrain and chassis are changing, but that’s the same for everyone.

“There will be winners and losers from that. First of all, 2025 is where the focus will be.”