Red Bull engines not easy to obtain: 'Don't want to overstretch ourselves'

Rob Marshall has left Red Bull Racing and will join McLaren next year. Marshall will not automatically provide Red Bull Powertrain at the back of the McLaren, and Christian Horner stressed that additional customers are not necessarily a must for Red Bull.

Marshall will become the new technical director of engineering and design at McLaren. At McLaren, since the departure of James Key, they have opted for a technical committee, with each member responsible for his own part. Similarly, David Sanchez has already been recruited from Ferrari. As with Sanchez, Marshall will not be allowed to start at McLaren until January 2024.

With the departure of a Red Bull technical head, and especially the good harmony in which it happens, there are rumours about whether there is more at play. Does McLaren perhaps want to become Red Bull's customer in 2026, when Red Bull teams up with Ford to produce its own engines? McLaren itself denies this is the case, and Horner also let it be known in GPblog's presence that Rob will not be bringing a Red Bull engine with him.

''No, Rob is not going with an engine,'' laughs Horner when asked about it in the press briefing. ''So, of course, we've had a couple of teams have approached us about the plan. Our plan at the moment is to supply two teams because we don't want to overstretch ourselves in the first year. And, of course, those teams are obviously likely to be the two Red Bull-owned teams,'' said the Red Bull Racing team boss.

With Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri, Red Bull basically already have two teams to which the engines can be supplied, and given that AlphaTauri will reportedly not be sold, this will continue to be the case in 2026.