Red Bull plans to meet the three-engine quota in 2020

Since their advent in 2014, Power Units and their quota of usable elements have resulted in penalties per whole car in the first years. With reliability improving significantly, penalties for exceeding the number of authorized components have decreased.

But some teams, notably Red Bull last year, did not hesitate to be penalized to benefit from the very latest developments brought by the engine manufacturer Honda.

A situation that the Milton Keynes team hopes not to reproduce this year, given the significant progress of the Japanese Power Unit, unless it seeks a real increase in performance with a new specification.

“We are not planning a fourth engine at this time, says Christian Horner, Team Principal of Red Bull Racing. The plan is to play the year on all three blocks. If it becomes 21 races (with the possible cancellation of the Chinese event, postponed due to Covid-19), that would obviously make life a little easier.

If we were to take a fourth, as long as you take it in the right place you can minimize the impact. We always prioritize performance over everything else. »

The Honda engine hasn't shown everything yet

If the RB16s were among the most diligent on the track, with the second total kilometers behind Mercedes, with 471 tours covered in Spain by Max Verstappen and Alex Albon, the single-seaters flanked by the red bull did not seek pure performance.

“I think we haven't used the full power modes, but so far everything is working perfectly, admitted the Dutchman. And that's exactly what we want. »

All the information and the complete analysis of these tests, carried out by our special correspondents in Catalonia, can be found in AUTO issue 2256hebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version, and from next Wednesday on newsstands.

In the meantime, remember that our Guide F1 2020 is available in digital version and on newsstands.