Toto Wolff likens Red Bull’s challenge to ‘climbing Mount Everest’ after one Christian Horner decision

“My first answer would be that’s Mount Everest to climb because our engine departments have grown over tens of years,” Wolff said.

“And I think how the Red Bull engine was born is because Christian wasn’t keen to have a Porsche relationship. So the deal, I think the deal was almost done, that Porsche would own 50% of the team, they would mirror the management side that Red Bull had in there, and they would provide the power unit.”

“And I think that was agreed between two top guys – Wolfgang Porsche and Dietrich Mateschitz – and then that didn’t happen.”

“And it didn’t happen because of the idea that Red Bull shouldn’t be dependent anymore on any other OEM or engine supplier. It should stand on its own legs, and that’s obviously something Dietrich Mateschitz has done all his life.”

F1’s ‘catch-up’ rule could help Red Bull in 2026

Still, Wolff is wary of ‘underestimating’ Red Bull ahead of the regulation changes. They may profit from ‘new ideas’, though Horner had boasted of how many hires they’d made from Mercedes.

And what’s more, F1 has introduced a ‘catch-up’ rule allowing manufacturers who are lagging behind additional development time. If there is a deficit to Mercedes as expected, it could allow them to catch-up long-term.

Many established F1 teams didn’t take Red Bull seriously when they first joined the sport, and they’ve gone on to win a total of 14 championships.

Wolff said: “Now, having said that, you can never underestimate anyone in this sport who has the firepower to build something from scratch with new ideas coming in, maybe different ways of thinking in terms of innovation, and come out with a product that can be a surprise. The odds are against them, but it could be that for whatever reason it flies.

“And even if it doesn’t, our engine regulations state today that if you’re outside of the two percent [mark] to the best power unit, you have more dyno allocation, so you can dig yourself out.

“Obviously that doesn’t happen over [a] race or two, and doesn’t happen over a season.

“[It’s] certainly a huge, huge challenge that they’ve given themselves by saying we’re doing our own engine,” Wolff continued. “But remember when they took the chassis team over – everybody joked at an energy drink company trying to compete with Ferrari and Mercedes and God knows McLaren in Formula 1 – and they won at the end. Maybe we’ll talk differently in five years.”

If Red Bull don’t provide Max Verstappen with another title-challenging car next year under F1’s new ruleset – he could look for an exit. already has him under contract until 2028 but there’s every chance Verstappen pushes for another move before then if they’re not competitive again early on.