In February 2021, Red Bull Advanced Technologies signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Honda to operate Honda's Formula One engines from the 2022 season onwards. Honda had announced its withdrawal from the sport at the end of 2021, and rather than lose the power unit supply, Red Bull established RBPT to acquire the intellectual property and manage the units for Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri. Honda continued to assemble the power units and provide trackside support through 2025, but the engines were rebadged as Red Bull Powertrains units.
RBPT built out its technical team rapidly, hiring Ben Hodgkinson from Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains as technical director in April 2021, where he had served as head of mechanical engineering since 2017 after 20 years at the Brixworth factory. Five further senior Mercedes engine engineers followed in May 2021, covering production, electronics, energy recovery systems, combustion design, and engine operations.
In October 2022, Honda announced a strengthened partnership with Red Bull, resuming visible branding on Red Bull Racing's and AlphaTauri's cars from the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix onwards, while maintaining oversight of the power units through 2025.
The RBPTH001, introduced in 2022, was despite its name developed, produced, and maintained by Honda. It was a derivative of the Honda RA621H, modified for the sport's new E10 fuel regulations with revised ignition timing, cylinder pressure, MGU-H calibration, crankshaft and cylinder block geometry, and a specialised cylinder wall coating developed by Honda's motorcycle division. Injection, exhaust, and turbocharger components were all optimised for E10 fuel, resulting in greater thermal efficiency than the predecessor unit despite the reduced energy density of the new fuels and a slight weight increase. A development freeze was in place from September 2022, so RBPT did not develop the units during this period.
On 4 February 2023, Red Bull Racing and the Ford Motor Company announced a strategic partnership for the 2026 Formula One season, when sweeping new power unit regulations took effect emphasising electrification and sustainable fuels. Ford committed expertise in battery cell and electric motor technology, power unit control software and analytics, and combustion engine development. The company was renamed Red Bull Ford Powertrains accordingly.
Red Bull Ford launched its first fully in-house power unit, the DM01, on 15 January 2026. The unit was named after Dietrich Mateschitz, the late Red Bull GmbH founder who died in 2022 and who had been heavily involved in establishing RBPT before his death. The DM01 is supplied to both Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls (formerly AlphaTauri) for the 2026 season.
RBPT represents an unprecedented step in Formula One history: a front-running team establishing its own engine manufacturing operation in-house rather than sourcing from an established supplier. The transition from Honda customer to independent manufacturer — albeit with Ford partnership support — positions Red Bull as a fully integrated constructor capable of developing both chassis and power unit under one roof for the first time.