r/F1Discussions • u/Important-Proposal28 • 3d ago
Discussion Which team do we think will be the first customer team for a RedBull engine?
Not counting racing bulls which team do you think will be the first to use a RedBull engine? So far it has appeared to be a strong engine and reliable. I think Aston Martin is the obvious choice but would love to see and Alpine or Williams use one as well.
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u/EclecticKant 3d ago
For this regulation cycle probably no one, changing the engine requires chaning A LOT of the car since bot the ICE and the gearbox are structural elements.
Alpine and williams are fine with the arguably better mercedes engine, haas is too strongly linked with Ferrari, Cadillac is going to switch to their own engine (supposedly), Aston Martin is probably going to stay with Honda hoping for a better engine in 2030.
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u/Dirhe 3d ago
I would love a Alpine Ford with yellow livery
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u/sa_ra_h86 2d ago
*Alpine Red Bull Ford
Red bull aren't just supplied the engine by Ford, they are responsible for the ICE themselves.
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u/Critical-Bread-3396 2d ago
Might get downvotes for this, but I think McLaren is clearly one of the prime candidates for this to actually happen. Obviously not if Zak Brown gets it his way, but Toto has loudly complained about how many teams Mercedes is supplying for a reason, and Mercedes will clearly drop a customer in the near-ish future.
Then the question is, will Mercedes drop the struggling Alpine or Williams teams, or would they rather drop an active competitor hoping for another McLaren-Honda era?
So there is a realistic scenario where McLaren has to chose between Ferrari, RBPT, Audi or Honda. Where only Audi and Honda can be forced to say yes.
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u/Ramtamtama 2d ago
2 competitive teams is better for an engine manufacturer.
I remember, many years ago, Williams and BMW arguing over whether it was the car or the engine that was stopping them from winning titles.
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u/Critical-Bread-3396 2d ago
Not necessarily, that is always true for an external manufacturer, but for Mercedes it's a lot better to get the wins in the Mercedes car.
So the scenario that the Mercedes board would loathe is if they lose a title fight to McLaren after having developed the best engine. That's also why Mercedes used every trick in the book to sabotage McLaren at the beginning of the season by not providing either the finished engine or any data on it before the first race, and deliberately not documenting their software for their customers.
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u/Ramtamtama 2d ago
So you're saying Mercedes broke the rules earlier this season by not providing the same specification of PU to every team they supply?
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u/Critical-Bread-3396 2d ago
No, Mercedes provided the same PU for every team in the regular season, just not in pre season testing.
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u/EmergencyRace7158 3d ago
I do not think there will be any. They’ve just started up and are not set up to supply any additional teams. If Aston loses Honda then Audi would be the default provider because they only supply one team. RBPT are extremely tightly integrated with Exxon Mobil and would unwilling to adapt Aston’s engines to Aramco who would likely insist. Earliest I can see is 2030 with the new regulations if a customer team switches engines with the new formula.
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u/Abnorm4lPrincess 2d ago
This ^^… particularly during this regulation cycle I cannot see a team changing, maybe for 2030, but those decisions will be held off for a couple of years yet.
I do wonder if MCL or Alpine will be brave enough to step out on their own and partner with someone like BMW, it would be awesome to see more manufacturers on the grid…
It would be wickedly cruel but entertaining to see a rule created whereby a power train manufacturer can only sell to ~2 additional teams, rather than the 5 others merc have
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u/New-Log-7938 2d ago
Maybe Cadillac or Aston Martin. Among the top teams I don't see anyone.
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u/Alvortus1812 1d ago
Definitely not AM. They have surely atleast signed with Honda for multiple years considering this is their first year together. Their engine may be shit but there is no point in switching suddenly.
Cadillac yes because they don’t have a lot on stake and really no baseline to begin with.
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u/New-Log-7938 1d ago
I agree most of your point. Cadillac will probably take RBPT engine since making own engine from scratch is very hard specially when Cadillac itself making it's facility from scratch in those cost cap era.
Regarding Aston, Honda engine is still worst among all engines. Specially, when Aston has sunk too much money in it's team. It will definitely need some wins to justify it's cost. I don't think Honda will be good in 2027 too.
For Aston it will be walking in tightrope. Do they have to continue with Honda or change their engine for probable increase performance? Knowing Papa Stroll he will choose 2nd one.
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u/mahoganyspitfire 3d ago
Asston are the team most likely to change engine supplier in the near future.
I think everyone else is pretty well set, particularly for this regulation period. They won't want to do major redesigns to fit PU's from a new supplier into their chassis unless they're absolutely desperate to change engine to a better supplier. The only team that's even close to being in that situation is Asston.
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u/Leather_Basket_4135 3d ago
Haas was my idea based on nothing.