Honda branding, Red Bull, Suzuka, 2022

FIA confirms Ford and Honda among six engine manufacturers signed up for 2026

2026 F1 season

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The FIA has confirmed six engine manufacturers have signed up to produce power units for the forthcoming set of regulations which will arrive in 2026.

All six have completed the registration process to act as power unit suppliers for the 2026 to 2030 seasons.

All the sport’s current competitors have signed up, including Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains and Ferrari SpA. Alpine Racing, whose engines are currently branded by owner Renault, are also registered.

Red Bull have signed up as Red Bull Ford, following today’s announcement of their new partnership. Red Bull’s former power unit supplier Honda, who will continue to supply technical support to them until the end of 2025, has also registered. However the Japanese manufacturer has not yet confirmed which teams it will supply.

The sixth manufacturer which has completed the registration process for 2026 is Audi, which announced last year it will team up with Sauber, which currently runs Alfa Romeo’s F1 team, when the new regulations come into force.

“The confirmation that there will be six power unit manufacturers competing in Formula 1 from 2026 is testament to the strength of the championship and the robust technical regulations that have been diligently created by the FIA in close collaboration with Formula 1 and the power unit manufacturers,” said FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

“The power unit is at the forefront of technological innovation, making the future of Formula 1 more sustainable while maintaining the spectacular racing. I am grateful for the confidence of world-leading automotive manufacturers demonstrated by their commitment to Formula 1.”

F1’s new power units for 2026 will run on sustainable fuel and feature more powerful hybrid drive systems.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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18 comments on “FIA confirms Ford and Honda among six engine manufacturers signed up for 2026”

  1. Ford – Red Bull, Alpha Tauri
    Mercedes – Mercedes
    Ferrari – Ferrari, Haas
    Renault – Alpine
    Honda – ???
    Audi – Sauber

    McLaren, Williams and Aston Martin are all unaccounted for.
    I assume one of these three will team up with Honda… But the question is whom?
    I assume the other two will stick with the Merc engine, unless they want to link up with Audi also.

    1. I’d put Aston Martin in the Merc bowl, with leaving Honda with the options of buying Dorilton or teaming up with McLaren.

  2. No Porsche
    Nuts 🙁

    1. Porsche apparently wanted the cheap PU in Ford now got, but also control the F1 team.

      And it backfired on them. Which I like, cause it would truly be nuts to see Audi come to the party with their properly own PU while Porsche just limps into F1 on having bought someone else’s expertise.

      Maybe they’ll still find the motivation to give Formula 1 a proper go.

      1. Porsche doesn’t have the budget, resources or facilities to build an f1 engine, hence why it was looking to partner with RBPT. The bit they got wrong is trying to buy a major stake in the team and trying to take the reins. If porsche does succeed in making a new team (unlikely) or buying an existing team (much more likely, even if its a partnership like mclaren-porsche) for 2026 it will most likely use the audi engine and rebrand it as porsche. There’s no other option unless they axe their lmdh and fe programs and invest in a facility for the f1 engine.

        1. If Porsche had the budget to buy into RBPT and buy half of RBR, it’s not the money that’s the problem.

          Could be they have not faced real competition in many, many years, have a lack of trust in their current engineer corps, and now not enough time to buy external expertise and still come to race in 2026.

      2. José Lopes da Silva
        4th February 2023, 14:42

        Porsche and Audi both belong to the VW group.
        It would be un-natural for both brands to follow the same approach. No need to that.

    2. Porsche has shied away from competitive motorsport after leaving LMP1, preferring Balance of Performance GT racing, Balance of Performance LMP2+ (i.e. LMDh) and spec-chassic series like Formula E to promote their name.

      It’s unfortunate in a way, because Porsche has a long and proud competitive history. But also worth keeping in mind that Porsche now mainly produces 2,5+ tonne heavy SUVs like the Macan and Cayenne. Racing is not their focus, even if that racing history is probably still why people are willing to pay a premium for their models.

      1. Porsche sells a lot more race cars to customers than anybody out their with the exception of maybe Mazda. With their Cup, GT4, Gt3, and GTP programs, and a Dakar and F1 program coming, are they really not focused on racing?

  3. Can anyone clarify:

    Is Ford just going to be a badge, and the PU is actually derived from the current “RB developed” Honda PU?

    Or is this going to be a whole new ground up PU from Ford for 2026?

    Or are they being purposefully vague and we don’t know?

    1. As far as I understand the announcement, Ford are going to be partners in (previously) RBPT, which is developing a new PU for 2026.

      I think the confusion stems from Honda having left and the RBPT being retroactively put on their PU for 2022, despite that PU having nothing to do with RBPT and indeed being fully supplied and serviced (AFAIK) by Honda.

      And yes, they are probably purposefully vague, leaving options open to see where Ford can contribute and where RBPT was already doing fine.

    2. From what I understand, the rb developed Honda pu is old news. This was at the time when Honda decided to quit. Then they decided they wouldn’t quit. So Honda is taking care of red bull pus until 2025. They’re still being built and serviced in Japan, not RBPT. There is no development due to an engine freeze. RBPT will now exclusively develop the 2026 unit and take over supply when Honda supply stops at the end of 2025. Now they just got Ford expertise and resources as a technical partnership to help out. I imagine there will be ford people embedded at RBPT and it’ll be a joint development process. Ford takes naming rights, rb gets another works engine. Win win

      1. They’re still being built and serviced in Japan, not RBPT.

        I was under the impression they were servicing the Honda engines at the Honda facility here in Milton Keynes. Is that not so?

  4. “The power unit is at the forefront of technological innovation”, says the FIA. But plenty of commentators who understands engines far better than I have instead complained that the 2026 regulations are extremely prescriptive, very limited in scope for development and even differentiation between the manufacturers. The most unimpressed have even called them ‘spec in all but name’.

    Given that manufacturers by and large wanted nothing to do with F1 when there was scope for development post 2014, but have been keen to jump on the chance to participate in series with balance of performance or badging of spec-components (from FE through sportscars), some skepticism about this “newfound” interest F1 seems appropriate.

  5. I’d like to see Audi come in using Lamborghini as the supplier name… who would want a Lamborghini PU 🙃

  6. Beginner F1 viewer: wow, that Ford engine in the RedBull is quite amazing for their first engine since comeback
    Casual F1 viewer: errr, that is not a Ford engine, it’s the same RedBull Power Train they used last year.
    F1 Fanatic: it’s actually a Honda engine

    1. Mr Raymond Pang
      5th February 2023, 13:38

      F1 Fanatic that’s observing what’s going on: No it isn’t. The 2026 engine rules are significantly different. No split turbo, no MGU-H

    2. Actually from 2026 it will be a new engine, so not Honda.
      This conversation can happen if prior to 2026 Red Bull will brand their Honda engines as Ford (I admit I missed that part and just assumed Ford name will appear from 2026 onwards, much like Audi’s case)

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