Red Bull technical director Pierre Waché believes the team’s Formula 1 engine is currently operating at only “4 or 5” on a scale of 10 when measured against its full potential, suggesting there is still considerable performance to unlock from the Red Bull Powertrains project.
After dominating in Malaysia and Singapore with Max Verstappen on two very different circuits, Red Bull has strengthened its position heading into the final part of the season. The progress of the RB22 will now be particularly interesting to follow with an eye on 2027, especially given Waché’s assessment of how much development potential remains in the team’s in-house power unit.
Pierre Waché sees huge potential in the Red Bull engine
At the beginning of the season, Red Bull found itself in the unusual position of being classified by the FIA as having the best engine on the grid in terms of the internal combustion component. Recent performances are now beginning to provide significant justification for that assessment.
The Milton Keynes team has enjoyed particularly strong results with Max Verstappen in recent races, while Waché believes the engine developed by the new Red Bull Powertrains division is still some way from reaching its ceiling.
“On a scale of 1 to 10, at the moment the engine is at 4 or 5 of its potential,” Pierre Waché told RacingNews365.com. “The potential is huge. Now that the engine is being made in-house, we have more freedom. Collaboration and integration within the team take time because the way we work is slightly different. By their very nature, the people who work on the engine and those who work on the chassis are quite different.”
Why bringing Red Bull Powertrains in-house changes development
For Red Bull, producing its own Formula 1 power unit has created new opportunities but has also required the chassis and engine departments to adapt to one another. Waché explained that the development cycles of the two areas are fundamentally different, making closer integration a learning process for the entire organisation.
“It is a learning process for the whole team because the development times for a chassis are much faster than those of an engine, so the perspective is different, and the way we collaborate with them is different compared with how we did things when we were customers,” Pierre Waché added.
“I wouldn’t say it is easier, because we have many more resources and many more possibilities that we have not yet explored and exploited, but the capability and potential to achieve better performance are greater, and that is why we are managing to do it.”
Those comments underline the scale of Red Bull’s ambitions with its new in-house engine programme. Even after the team’s strong performances in Malaysia and Singapore, Waché believes substantial areas remain unexplored, giving the Milton Keynes operation further scope to improve as development continues towards 2027.
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