Rashbrook: Work is underway to improve engine parameters.

      Mark Rushbrook, director of Ford Performance Motorsport, shared fresh information about the state of affairs with the power unit produced by Red Bull Powertrains, and his words should put the Milton Keynes team's drivers and its fans in an optimistic frame of mind.

      For them it's a completely new project, and the American corporation, as part of its partnership with Red Bull Racing, is providing comprehensive technical support.

      "Everything is going according to plan; we are at the stage we should be at," Rushbrook said in an interview with Motorsport.com. "But, of course, the whole picture can only be evaluated when the car goes out on track (in testing). That will be an important day and an important week. Only then will we see to what extent the work carried out over the past three years has paid off.

      When a new car or a new engine undergoes its first on-track check, a certain amount of nervousness is inevitable. Our computer technologies are very effective for developing engineering solutions, our test laboratories are good for refining and tuning the equipment, but the question remains open: will something appear on track that we couldn't see during laboratory tests?..

      In recent months the work has been mainly aimed at improving the power unit's performance and calibrating it. Some things can be done using computer modelling, some are done during bench tests, and some in the simulator with drivers. That's what our efforts are focused on right now."