What is the first impression of Red Bull's new F1 engine?

Red Bull were left encouraged by how their brand new power unit operated during the opening day of F1 2026 pre-season testing.

F1 is entering a new era of overhauled power unit and chassis regulations in 2026 and Red Bull have taken the bold step to produce their own engine for the first time in their history.

Isack Hadjar topped the first day of running with an unofficial time of 1m18.159 seconds in the RB22, finishing half a second clear of George Russell’s new Mercedes.

While lap times are fairly meaningless at this stage, Red Bull turned heads with the amount of problem-free mileage they were able to complete.

Hadjar amassed 107 laps as he did all of Red Bull’s running solo, while Liam Lawson clocked 88 laps for Racing Bulls, who are also being powered by the RBPT engine.

The smooth running came as a surprise to Red Bull, Hadjar admitted.

"It was pretty productive. Surprisingly, we managed to do a lot more laps than we expected,” said Hadjar, who will hand over to new teammate Max Verstappen on Tuesday.

"Everything went pretty smooth. We had like only minor issues, so it's quite impressive considering it's our first day with our own engine. It was definitely smooth.”

Asked specifically about the performance of the new power unit, Hadjar replied: “Honestly, it's pretty decent for our first day.

"It doesn't feel too far off what I'm used to, at least in my first season, on all of the upshifts, downshifts. That was ok. There's still a few things to tweak around, but it's solid.”

Russell made a point of citing Red Bull’s impressive mileage on day one.

Red Bull's engine to be 'fine-tuned' 

Lawson echoed the positive early feedback about Red Bull’s engine.

“We did a good amount of laps today. Obviously, we learned a lot. We had a few little issues along the way, which were expected on day one. But I think we are in a decent place,” he said.

“And honestly, the only issues we really had were safety precautions, not any actual issues. On the power unit side, it's been very, very good so far. But again, it’s hard to know where we're at compared to everybody else. But definitely, we'll keep learning over the next few days.”

Racing Bulls’ chief race engineer Mattia Spini confirmed everything was working as hoped on the power unit side.

“The power unit is working fine. Again, it's not perfect, but we didn't expect it to be. We certainly need to work [on several aspects], but we are working really well together,” he explained.

At Red Bull Powertrains and also the engineers with us and in the factory, they are really open and honest. The relationship is really good between the two groups.

“Actually, we are almost the same team, but we started working really well and I'm sure we’ll keep working in that direction. We are going to fine-tune the power unit for the first race.”