Red Bull Drivers Impressed with New RBPT Power Unit

Red Bull has given their first impression of their first-ever in-house power unit.

The 2026 F1 season has seen a major overhaul on the grid with significant changes to both chassis and power units, and Red Bull have made a big step by finally manufacturing their own engine for the first time.

Isack Hadjar led the first day of testing at Barcelona with a lap time of 1:18.159, half a second clear of George Russell (Mercedes).

While lap times mean little at this stage, it's still a positive test for Red Bull with no major issues reported with their new power unit.

Hadjar clocked up 107 laps during a full day's running, while team-mate Liam Lawson recorded 88 laps for Racing Bulls, another team powered by RBPT.

The smooth first day of testing caught Hadjar off guard.

'Quite productive. Very impressively we were able to complete more laps than we thought we would.'

Hadjar will hand over to team-mate Max Verstappen on Tuesday.

'Things went quite smoothly. We only experienced small issues, so very impressing considering this is our first day with our own engine. Very smooth.'

When asked specifically about the performance of the new power unit, Hadjar replied: 'Honestly, quite good for our first day.'

'It feels not too far off from what I'm used to, at least during my first season, with all gear shifts up and down. It's okay. Still a few things to fine-tune, but overall solid.'

Lawson echoed the initial positive comments about the Red Bull engine.

'We managed to do a lot of laps today. Clearly we learned a lot. We experienced some small issues along the way, which was to be expected on the first day. But I think we're in a pretty good position.'

'And to be honest, the only real issue we had was a precautionary safety measure, not a real issue. From a power unit perspective, it's been very, very good.'

'But again, it's hard to get a read on where we stand compared to the others. But certainly, we'll continue to learn over the next few days.'

Racing Bulls' Chief Race Engineer, Mattia Spini, confirmed that everything went according to plan on the power unit side.

'The power unit worked well. Again, it wasn't perfect, but we didn't expect that. We certainly need to work on [a few things], but we work very well together.'

'Red Bull Powertrains, and also our engineers and people in the factory, are all very open and honest. The relationship between the two groups is excellent.'

'In fact, we are almost the same team, but we're working very well and I'm confident we'll keep moving that way. We'll perfect the engine for the first race.'