James Vowles claims Red Bull ‘turned down’ engine after hype
Red Bull "turned down" the engine in Bahrain, says James Vowles
According to Williams team principal James Vowles, Red Bull “turned down” the engine after it was talked it up as the top power unit.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and driver George Russell, plus Williams’ Carlos Sainz agree that Red Bull has the benchmark engine. Vowles suggested that there are “games” being played within the top four teams. But, that is a top four which Vowles does not believe Williams can penetrate just yet.
Red Bull ‘turned down’ engine, says Vowles
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Mercedes came into F1 2026 as the title favourites, but it is a tag which the Silver Arrows tried to pass on to Red Bull.
Wolff spoke of a one second per lap advantage in energy deployment from the first Red Bull engine. Russell described it as “pretty scary” and insisted that all eyes should be on Red Bull, not Mercedes.
Williams driver Sainz said the Red Bull engine was a “clear step” ahead after what he saw on the opening day of Bahrain test one.
Red Bull has knocked back the noise surrounding their engine.
“There are games being played,” Vowles told F1TV.
“Red Bull looked really good until we spoke about their power unit. Then they’ve turned it down quite a bit since then.”
Vowles believes that Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren remains the top four at the start of this new era for Formula 1.
“Ferrari, well done to them, really. They’re coming up with great innovations, and they are moving forward, and I think they are competitive as they are,” said Vowles.
“Mercedes, just because they came out the box really strong, and they’ve been strong all days. You can’t discount them.
“So what I’m saying to you is, even within the paddock right now, depending on what games people are playing on power unit and fuel, it’s hard to tell.
“Then, on top of that, I would add that you’re going to see more than ever before, swings, circuit to circuit, based on what characteristics the power unit and the car teams have come up with.
“So even if today, Ferrari could win a race here, that doesn’t mean they will in Melbourne.”
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Vowles suggested that Williams is “not first, not last” in the pecking order as it appears currently. Williams is in the “little gaggle of cars behind” the top four. It is a very tight midfield pack, which Vowles says is made up of three teams covered by a tenth of a second.
Considering that Williams largely bypassed development of its 2025 car to focus on F1 2026, Vowles was asked what the expectations are for this season.
“I mean, my expectations are that we’re able to effectively develop at a rate that is matching those around us or exceeding, certainly the midfield cars,” he said. “That would be the expectation.
“But as I’ve described 100 times, I’d love to be saying we’re fighting for a championship or fighting in those top four.
“I think what’s really been proven to me more than anything else, across this winter break and across the last year, is when you change power unit, chassis, ECU, and there’s a whole load of other bits changing underneath, it is an incredible amount for a team to take on board, and we simply are not at the level we need to be at the moment to deal with all that in one go.
“And this year, what we’re proving to myself is making sure that we start chomping through all of that, such that we’re getting ahead of it, rather than just basically following it.”
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