Max Verstappen said he and Red Bull are “very happy” with how the Red Bull Powertrains-Ford venture has started.

Verstappen’s comments come as former Red Bull boss Christian Horner, who played a pivotal role in the formation of the engine division, said he felt proud, yet “hurt and robbed” as he watched the Dutchman claim the first RBPT win in Malaysia.

Max Verstappen lauds Red Bull Powertrains after landmark win

Following Honda’s initial decision to withdraw from Formula 1, Red Bull needed a new option to power its Formula 1 cars.

The Austrian-Thai squad ended up forming its own power unit division, partnering with Ford for the task.

This has proven a race-winning project already in its first season, as Verstappen took a dominant Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia victory. He followed that with another assured, winning drive in Singapore.

In an interview with The Guardian, Horner, who was axed by Red Bull following the 2025 British Grand Prix after two decades in charge, revealed that he reached out to Verstappen and team members after that win in Malaysia.

But, having watched it on the television rather than from pit wall, he felt “particularly hurt and robbed” that he did not get the chance to see that engine win in person.

Ahead of his next victory in Singapore, Verstappen was asked whether the Red Bull-Ford PU has exceeded his expectations.

“I always stayed very neutral in that I was not trying to be super optimistic, but also not negative, because you don’t know. I mean, how would you know,” he told PlanetF1.com and others.

“You trust, of course, that the people that have been hired, that they’re doing a good job. But I also never really tried to overthink. I was just, ‘I’ll wait, when the car is ready to go, the engine is ready to go.’

“They have the facilities to deliver a very good engine because Red Bull invested a lot of money in that. But yeah, I was not too stressed about it.

“But of course, we are now very happy with how we started. I mean, it could be much worse, as we can see in other places in the paddock.

“So yeah, we’re just very proud. But at the same time, we’re proud but we’re still working hard because we know there are a lot of areas where we want to do better because that’s just the mentality that we have within the team.”

Red Bull has the best internal combustion engine on the F1 2026 grid, according to the FIA. It was at Baku where the chassis also took a step forward.

In the upgraded RB22, Verstappen was the closest challenger to Mercedes’ George Russell. From there, he unleashed those Bahrain in Malaysia and Singapore GP wins back-to-back. He also won the Singapore Sprint for good measure.

The four-time world champion recently extended his Red Bull contract through until the end of 2030, silencing talk of a McLaren or Mercedes switch. He was asked whether knowledge of what was coming with Red Bull’s Baku upgrade played a role in him staying in Milton Keynes.

“No, not really,” he confirmed. “It was just more talking about the future, and of course the ideas behind how the team is moving forward, and I liked it.

“I mean, it’s not also that they really needed to convince me or whatever. It’s just general chat that you have with the team, and it’s just been really enjoyable to work with the team.

“And naturally, yes, with the progress that we’ve had, it’s a nice bonus because, of course, fighting up front is a lot more satisfying.

“But I think the big thing that has changed with our car is that it has just been a lot more predictable and balanced. Where, in the beginning of the year, many times I didn’t know what was going to happen going into a corner, or weird things did happen with the car.

“That’s why you could never really run it to the limit because you didn’t know where the limit was, or suddenly the limit had shifted, and that has made it in the last few race weekends a lot better. Just knowing a bit more where the limit is and a more predictable balance.”

Verstappen sits fourth in the F1 2026 Drivers’ standings, just 17 points behind P2 Russell.