Red Bull Ford engine continues to impress during 2026 F1 winter test

15:21, 29 Jan

byOlly Darcy

Liam Lawson has given the Red Bull Ford power unit another vote of confidence after taking to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya during the first winter test of 2026.

"We've honestly had a pretty strong test in terms of reliability."

- Liam Lawson

The Racing Bulls driver took part in Thursday's morning session, running alongside Lewis Hamilton in his Ferrari, Kimi Antonelli for Mercedes, McLaren's Oscar Piastri, and Sergio Perez, who took to the track for Cadillac.

Lawson found himself in P4 come the end of the morning runs, finishing ahead of Perez thanks to a time of 1.18.840.

It was a session that had the New Zealander impressed with the progress made by the Italian team throughout the first week of 2026 testing.

Liam Lawson with teammate Arvid Lindblaf during Racing Bull's 2026 unveiling - Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

"We just keep learning. We're making, obviously, big gains, but so is everybody else," the 23-year-old explained after Thursday's morning session.

"They're very, very different cars, but we're in a much better place than we were on Monday, which is the main thing.

"We just need to keep learning and improving the car."

Valuable Red Bull Ford data collected

The huge question mark surrounding Racing Bulls and Red Bull Racing is the brand new Red Bull Ford power unit that will power both teams this campaign.

Red Bull and Ford have worked together to create a works engine for the changing regulations, with this long-term technical partnership spanning from 2026 to at least 2030.

In Barcelona, both teams have completed plenty of laps, and promising data has been collected in the run-up to the Australian Grand Prix, the opening race of the season.

Both Red Bull and Racing Bulls unveiled their 2026 machines in Detroit, Michigan, the home of Ford - Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

"In terms of mileage, yes, we've honestly had a pretty strong test in terms of reliability, so that's been a box ticked," continued Lawson.

"In terms of expectations, it's very hard. Obviously, we don't know where anybody else is, so that'll still be quite unknown for a while.

"But the main thing is we're getting the laps down that we want to, and we are learning what we need to about our car."

Mercedes flex muscles once again

The first week of testing is almost coming to an end, with day four of five getting underway on Thursday. It was Mercedes who led the way for the second day in a row, with Kimi Antonelli topping the timesheets after the morning session.

For the afternoon session in Barcelona, rookie Arvid Lindblad is expected to get behind the wheel and take over from Lawson after his morning stint.

"We'll carry on learning. We'll obviously sit down and go through the stuff that we tried this morning and make a bit of a game plan for some new stuff this afternoon to test," concluded Lawson.

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