Red Bull praised by rival in 'shameless' engine-copying confession

08:10, 28 Feb

bySamson Ero

Steve Nielsen has hinted that his team is open to taking a leaf out of Red Bull Racing’s book, praising the Milton Keynes outfit’s remarkable engine development.

“I mean, we're shameless plagiarists, all of us.”

- Steve Nielsen

Speaking to GPblog, the Alpine managing director was quizzed about how pleased he was with the feat the Red Bull team has achieved with the development of its engine in collaboration with Ford.

“Red Bull have done an amazing job. Honestly, when we were talking about this a few days ago, four years ago, that PU manufacturer was a hole in the ground in Milton Keynes. And here they are today, doing it. It's an amazing job,” Nielsen began.

Steve Nielsen - Photo: Race Pictures

However, the 61-year-old further stated his team’s goal is now to outperform the Red Bull team as the season progresses.

“Honestly, they've done very well, and it's a credit to everybody involved. Our job is to do better than that and try to beat them. But no, they've done very well.”

Max Verstappen driving the RB22 - Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Asked if there were a thing or two his team could learn from the engine success Red Bull has achieved, he cheekily responded:

“I mean, we're shameless plagiarists, all of us. We'll look at anything anybody else can do—on the track, off the track—and if we like it, we'll steal it. And looking at their speeds, cornering, how they deploy energy, all of that stuff, we're all doing it to each other.”

The Red Bull Ford powertrain has largely attracted praise from several stakeholders in Formula 1, with many particularly impressed by the reliability of the new engine.

Vowles hints at Red Bull sandbagging

Earlier, Williams team boss James Vowles expressed his belief that the Red Bull team dialled down its engine amid the numerous eyes on it during pre-season testing.

The 46-year-old, who also expressed his admiration for the Red Bull powertrain, detailed his belief that Red Bull were still hiding performance, as were the other top teams, in a "game" being played with power unit setups and fuel loads.