Red Bull will find themselves at a crucial juncture soon when they will have to decide the direction they will be taking with their future engines. Following Honda’s exit from F1 at the end of 2021, Red Bull are expected to take over Honda’s current engine program but this is only supposed to be a temporary solution. Eventually a totally new engine regulation will be introduced and with no new engine suppliers on the horizon, Red Bull’s options seem limited. Team advisor Helmut Marko has discussed this with Motorsport Total.

Link to poll: https://www.youtube.com/post/UgxyxveFJ3YcafxfXlt4AaABCQ
0:00 - Marko Drops Big Hint About Future F1 Engine
1:45 - Fast Feed

Marko began by divulging where they will maintain the Honda engines after 2021

“Our plans are to carry out engine maintenance on our existing Red Bull campus and to adapt a hall for it”

He then discussed why they want to go with the option of taking over Honda’s engine operations instead of going with one of the other three suppliers despite the former option being more expensive

“Of course, this option is more expensive. But first of all, we get the engine, which, in coordination with the chassis department, promises the best outcome in terms of performance. In the medium term, I believe that these investments can be made again”

He then speculated on the brand-new engine regulations that will be eventually introduced in F1

“If the indications become true that the new engine is much simpler to build, that the MGU-H will no longer be needed, that it still remains innovative, but the annual cost limit is somewhere around 50 million, then that's no longer as complex a topic as the current engine”

He then pointed out how such an engine would be something they can develop and produce themselves

“That means that we could then use the facilities that we will have in Milton Keynes to do the development for such an engine. Whether alone or in cooperation, that is then a matter of negotiation, I would say”


Fast Feed

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc feels that 2020 was his “best season personally in Formula 1” and he thinks that with what he has “shown on track” he’s “very happy”

He also suggested that Ferrari have made “small steps in the right direction and this is not always a given in Formula 1”

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen thinks that his new teammate Sergio Perez does “very well in the races. Aggressive, yet controlled. He does that well”

1997 world champion Damon Hill has advised Red Bull by saying that “they have to listen to what” Sergio Perez “says, because he has a lot of experience”, “more than Verstappen has”

He further elaborated that “sometimes someone has so much talent that he can go fast even with a bad car but that doesn't mean that they are going in the right direction with the car”

Haas’ 2020 stand-in driver Pietro Fittipaldi has “been trying to get back in IndyCar ever since the 2018 season finished, just because” he loves that “style of racing”

Team boss of the Mercedes Formula E team Ian James feels that “FE as a series, is getting to a point now where” they’re “going to see the flow in both directions” with F1 as far as personnel and drivers are concerned

Williams’ George Russell has admitted that his “driving style at Williams was disadvantageous at Mercedes”

4-time world champion and non-executive director at Renault, Alain Prost has confirmed that they “did not expect to be so good” in 2020

He added that “it is especially interesting to see that so many little things on the car worked so well. This is good” as it allows them “to make a plan for 2021 and also for 2022”

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has reiterated that “it's just a customer relationship” and that “the team is really looking forward to working with Mercedes”

He also added that what he’s “heard so far shows how well-prepared Mercedes is to work with their customers. Their communication, their timing is just a big well-oiled machine”

He further confirmed that he is “only getting feedback from the technical team that the cooperation is going well and smoothly and that they are extremely happy”


Was 2020 Charles Leclerc’s best season in F1 so far?