Red Bull Ford Powertrains Shrugs Off Engine Issues At Baku

Max Verstappen obviously had a fast Red Bull Ford race car under him at the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku. He finished second to George Russell, and his pace was quick – and just by looking at the results, one might never know that he had a disastrous qualifying session.

According to Motorsport, Ford Red Bull Powertrains had an issue during qualifying that almost sidelined Verstappen. The race car’s internal combustion engine (ICE) struggled during the session, and ultimately, Verstappen rolled off eighth. But he fought steadily forward, keeping the leader in his sights, and ultimately falling just short of the victory.

However, despite the early weekend problems, the Red Bull Ford Powertrain performed above and beyond expectations, and team principal Laurent Mekies laid out exactly how the team bounced back.

“We have a fantastic PU, we have a fairly narrow band to use it at best,” he said. “And it takes a lot of energy from everyone back in Milton Keynes and on the race track to try to keep us on the narrow window of performance. So that’s what we do every day, there was nothing different this weekend.”

He added, “Every track comes with this challenge on how you do that and you hear it with our radio communications, with our drivers. So getting the right energy management, getting the right deployment and getting the right power is certainly something that keeps us busy.”

Laurent couldn’t help but wonder what might have been if the team hadn’t struggled with its power unit, too: “I think in fairness Max was very strong from Friday onwards and probably would have been fighting for that first row or more yesterday without the issues we had with the PU. So of course, fixing that today [in the race] with the new engine has allowed us to go back to the competitive level that we were hoping to have.”

Though the team had some objections, the Red Bull Ford Powertrains unit is currently considered the best in the business by the FIA.…Read more by