Why Red Bull boss Christian Horner feels the team has 'outgrown being a customer'

Red Bull boss Christian Horner feels that the outfit has now outgrown the phase of just being a customer team after all these years. The Austrian team took over Jaguar in 2005 and since then have taken over the role of a customer team. Over all these years, they have been supplied with engines/power units from various manufacturers.

Red Bull had their first successful run with Renault from 2010 to 2014 and are now enjoying their second successful run with Honda. The relationship with Honda ends at the end of the 2025 F1 season and a new one with American giant Ford will start in 2026.

Ford is expected to support the Red Bull Powertrain division in the electrical part of the power unit. Meanwhile, the Austrian unit will specialize in the Internal Combustion unit.

Talking about the direction the team took when it comes to becoming a completely in-house operation, Horner felt that the team had outgrown being just a customer team. In the press conference in Monaco, he said:

"It was certainly an expensive decision but look, I think for us, for the long term prospects of Red Bull, we’ve outgrown being a customer and, for us to have the power unit on site, on campus, integrated fully with chassis and the synergies that creates, with engine and chassis engineers sitting next to each other, I think for us, for the long term, the advantages are significant."

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Red Bull would not have made that jump if not for Honda's withdrawal from F1, according to Horner

Christian Horner did admit that all the wheels behind the in-house power unit operation were set in motion by Honda leaving the sport. If the Japanese brand had not taken that decision, we would not be looking at the Austrian squad transitioning into almost a full-works operation. He said:

"And we would not have made that jump had it not been for Honda’s withdrawal, so in many respects, Honda, we should be grateful for giving us that push to create our own engine facility and the jobs that it’s created and provided and then, of course, the partnership that we have with Ford that’s particularly exciting for the future."

He said:

"And the commitment, obviously, from Red Bull and the shareholders to the project. Would we have made the same decision knowing what Honda’s decision is today? Absolutely not."

It will be however interesting to see how the partnership with Honda evolves over the years, especially with Ford making a return to the sport in 2026.