According to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport, Red Bull Racing is working on a deal for Ferrari engines as a backup plan if its efforts to secure Mercedes-Benz V8s are blocked by Mercedes partner McLaren. Red Bull has been plagued by failures of its Renault engines that have hindered its World Championship challenge this year, and Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz admitted "our engines are inferior to some of the competition."

Meanwhile, there is a move afoot to allow rival F1 engine manufacturers to catch up with the power output of the Mercedes, despite the approved freeze on engine development.