Ford reiterate Christian Horner claim over new Mercedes F1 engine

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Mark Rushbrook, global director at Ford Performance, has agreed with Christian Horner's assertion that Mercedes seem "confident" over the all-new power unit regulations sweeping into F1 at the end of the season. 2026 will witness a significant overhaul of both the chassis and engine rules, the latter of which Red Bull will take on as a manufacturer for the first time - with Ford by its side as part of a technical and strategic partnership. The changes have already proven a contentious issue, with Horner calling for alterations to what has already been agreed. Currently, there is to be a 50-50 split between the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), which Ford is developing for Red Bull, and electronic power. However, Horner wants to see the division changed to 60-40, reducing the dependency on the latter from 350kw to 200 kw. For reference, the current turbo hybrid power units use 20% electronic power. Toto Wolff was initially opposed to reviewing the regulations, labelling the idea of late amendments to the rules "a joke", but has now signalled he could be "open-minded" to a change. Although he has since softened his stance , the Austrian's reluctance to change the goalposts is part of a broader tapestry that indicates the Brackley-based squad is happier with the trajectory of its own 2026 power unit project. With Mercedes HPP (High Performance Powertrains) having aced the last significant engine change, in 2014, it is widely felt the team - and its customers - will set the front-running pace next season. However, Rushbrook was keen to point out how difficult it is to know how competitive rival teams will be. When asked if there is a way to establish how the opposition is getting on with their plans, he confirmed there was not. "No... until everyone tests on the same test bench and in the same conditions, you can't know," he told the Dutch branch of Motorsport.com . "There are only rumours about who is where, who is ahead and who is behind. But the honest answer is: no, nobody knows." When it was put to him that Horner had said Mercedes appears confident with its power unit development, he supported the claim. "They do seem that way. Christian and I agree on almost everything, so yes," he added when asked if he shares that impression. 'We don't know what Mercedes and Ferrari think is possible' Nonetheless, Rushbrook maintains Ford and Red Bull are tracking the direction it believes is "achieveable" based on the rules as they currently are. "If you analyse the regulations, you make an assessment of what is achievable based on those regulations. We have said: 'we think this is achievable and want to get there in a certain way', that is the path we are following," he explained. "But we don't know what Mercedes and Ferrari think is possible, that assessment could be higher or lower than ours. Anyone can say they are on track, but you can be on track to different numbers."