Red Bull Racing and Ford joined forces to build a Formula 1 power unit starting from 2026, and the initial product of this collaboration seems satisfactory for the American carmaker.

After Honda inexplicably decided to drop out of F1 after Max Verstappen won his maiden title powered by their power unit, Red Bull Racing took the bold decision to build their own power unit when Christian Horner was still boss.

Fast forward to 2026, and the DM01, Red Bull Ford Powertrains' first power unit named as tribute to late Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz, made its debut and appeared to be solid from day one.

Ford Performance's director Mark Rushbrook reflected: “It’s been a long journey, three and a half years to get the power unit on track, so it was fantastic to see that in Melbourne for the start of the season. And it’s great for Ford to be properly back in the sport.

“We knew what an incredible challenge it would be, simply to get on the grid with the new power unit, to be honest. But to be in the mix like we are, it certainly feels good," he added.

While Ford revealed their focus will be on the hybrid technology, Rushbrook believed they ended up being involved in other aspects of the project.

Ford pushed further than they anticipated

He explained: “The biggest area that we didn't expect is how far it's pushed us on some things like additive manufacturing or advanced manufacturing.

"The ability to print parts, make them so quickly with the turnaround and with the quality control and the precision that's needed, the dimensional control that's needed.

“That has pushed us much further than we ever anticipated, but that's been a huge benefit for other racing programs as well," he maintained.

Asked to evaluate the performance of the DM01 relative to the competition, Rushbrook pointed out it is not straightforward, with many factors affecting it.

He said: “I think the conditions certainly have an impact on it, because these power units are certainly sensitive to temperatures and to the environmental conditions. So we are seeing differences in those different conditions, and that's part of what we need to sort out as well.”

ADUO application not straight forward

With a lot of talk about the Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities system—introduced by the FIA in 2026 to allow power unit manufacturers who are behind to catch up—Rushbrook believes the governing body should not only rely on pure data when applying the system.

He said: “Obviously, the FIA and F1, they need to look at the data and make those decisions, but they've got to do it by looking at the context of it, not just blindly looking at the data. But really understanding what's contributing to it.

“Just the conditions under which we're running on track, the temperatures, the humidity, the environment that you're racing in, because every power unit has different sensitivity to those conditions.

“From the outset, it has been transparently discussed between the FIA and the PU manufacturers that certain factors that may ultimately affect ICE performance, such as fluid temperatures, external aerodynamics, and similar variables, would be captured as part of the on-car measurements and that no correction methodology would be applied.”

As for the areas of improvement the DM01 requires, Rushbrook said: “We do have a clear picture of that, but that’s not something that we want to talk about." (Source: Motorsport.com)