Horner says he banned Mercedes’ name from Red Bull engine meetings

Christian Horner says he banned Red Bull powertrains staff from mentioning Mercedes by name in meetings as the team built its own engine operation. Staff instead referred to the rival as “Team B”, he recalled in an interview with Autosport.

The rule followed too much talk about how work had been done at Mercedes, Horner said. Red Bull was starting its powertrains operation from scratch, bringing operational staff across from Honda’s UK organisation and recruiting many people from Mercedes’ HPP engine unit.

Honda had announced it would leave F1 as an OEM at the end of 2021, leaving Red Bull seeking a power-unit provider for 2022 and beyond. Red Bull struck a deal to continue its Honda partnership from 2022 to 2025 under the RBPT name. Honda later linked up with Aston Martin for 2026, while Red Bull partnered with Ford to develop a power unit for the 2026 regulations.