Red Bull earns James Vowles’ praise: “Impressive mileage with their in-house power unit”. Williams team principal James Vowles praises Red Bull’s in-house Ford power unit.

Williams team principal James Vowles has taken his hat off to Red Bull’s work on its new power unit, after the Milton Keynes-based team completed an impressive 392 laps over the first three days of shakedown running.

The Red Bull challenge

For Red Bull, 2026 represents a leap into the unknown and a challenge of enormous scale. For the first time in its history, the Milton Keynes outfit has taken to the track with a power unit designed and built entirely in-house at Red Bull Powertrains, with technical support from Ford. And, judging by the opening days of shakedown testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the initial assessment is extremely positive.

Of course, it is impossible to talk about outright performance, despite Red Bull topping the timing screens during the first two days. Lap times are not official, and even if they were, at this stage of the season they would carry close to zero significance. What does matter, however, is the mileage already accumulated by the Red Bull Ford-powered cars: 392 laps in the first three days.

Only Mercedes managed to do better, but the German manufacturer benefits from having three teams running in Spain. The fourth, Williams, was forced to remain in the garage due to delays in car development. As a result, team principal James Vowles was able to closely observe the work of the rivals, and according to the British engineer, Red Bull has made an impressive effort that is already paying dividends.

Vowles’ words

“Red Bull has produced a power unit from scratch, and that really cannot be underestimated. They’ve done a great job in terms of the number of laps completed. They’ve been impressive from the very beginning, but the Barcelona lap times will be largely irrelevant. Only in Bahrain will we start to see something,” James Vowles said.

The Williams team principal remains confident about 2026 despite the initial setbacks experienced by his own team. “I think we’re ready for a good championship. Mercedes has been performing well from the start, sticking to the programme they announced and the mileage they had planned,” he added.

The Grove-based team will return to the track for the Bahrain tests, scheduled from 11 to 13 February for the first session, which will be preceded by a filming day at the Sakhir circuit. This will mark the first real opportunity for Williams to begin evaluating its package on track, after watching closely as rivals such as Red Bull made an early and impressive start to the new era.