Christian Horner states two F1 teams have approached Red Bull for their RBPT engines with Ford

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner recently spoke about how there are two F1 teams that are willing to buy engines from his team after the 2026 F1 season.

At the start of the 2023 F1 season, the reigning world champions announced their new partnership with Ford for developing their own engines starting in 2026. Hence, some of the customer teams are planning to receive power units from the Austrian-British team.

Speaking after the Spanish GP, Horner initially explained how Rob Marshall is currently working in the Red Bull Powertrains department, which is developing a new power unit for 2026. Furthermore, he mentioned McLaren's interest in their new power units and the partnership deal and said (via motorsport.com):

"Rob Marshall has been with the team in Australia because he has several of his family who live there. So he took a bit of a vacation waiting for the Grand Prix."

"He is currently working in Red Bull Powertrains [the engine division of Red Bull], but he is working specifically on some projects. So with McLaren, we thought about how to reach a commercial agreement that was reasonable for both."

Later on, Horner stated that there are two teams that are willing to receive power units from his team in 2026. While we know that one team is McLaren, he did not mention the name of the second team. He concluded:

"Marshall doesn't walk away carrying an engine deal for McLaren, but clearly, we've had two teams approach us regarding the 2026 engines. Our plan at the moment is to supply engines to two teams, as we don't want to stress too much department at least in the first year. And, clearly, those two teams will be the ones owned by Red Bull."

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Red Bull team boss on the title battle between Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner recently spoke about Sergio Perez's poor performance in the 2023 F1 Spanish GP and his fight with Max Verstappen for the championship.

Since the gap between the two drivers has drastically increased, Horner feels Checo should now feel less pressured and calmer and simply focus on driving. Speaking to Sky F1, he said:

“I think if you look at the points now, there’s a big split between the two of them, and I think if anything, that should take pressure off him."

He added:

“He has nothing to lose now and I think he just needs to relax, he can breathe out and just drive like we know he’s capable of, like he did in Azerbaijan and some of the early races this year. And I think today was a good recovery from him and I think that’ll give him confidence as we head to Montreal.”

Max Verstappen now has 170 points as he leads the drivers' championship while Sergio Perez only has 117 points.