Red Bull F1 Boss Clarifies: No Engine Supply Obligation to McLaren After Technical Director’s Move

Red Bull Racing F1 team principal Christian Horner has argued that Rob Marshall’s deal to join McLaren does not obligate him to supply engines. Rob Marshall will leave Red Bull to start his life as the technical director of the engineering and design department at McLaren from January next year, and Red Bull emphasized his qualities as an engineer in a warm retirement message.

McLaren is one of four teams slated to receive customer engines in 2026, along with Red Bull’s sister teams AlphaTauri, Haas and Williams. Red Bull supplied AlphaTauri with its own power unit, and began a path as an OEM in partnership with Ford. And with Rob Marshall’s move to McLaren, there were rumors that the engine deal might have become a bargaining chip. “No, Rob is not going with the engine,” Horner told the media. Christian Horner outlined the plans for the championship-leading team, adding: “Of course, some teams have approached us about power units,” he said. “Our plan at the moment is to supply two teams because we don’t want to push ourselves too hard in the first year. And of course those teams. are likely to be two teams owned by Red Bull.” McLaren has already denied reports that it could take on an engine supply from Red Bull Ford, with team principal Andrea Stella saying: explained in “We spoke with Red Bull a few months ago as part of our due diligence to see what is available on the market in terms of power units for 2026,” he said. “There have been no conversations with Red Bull.”