Why Is Ford Joining F1 With Red Bull?

Red Bull is about to do the riskiest thing in its Formula 1 history. They're building their own engine, and Ford decided to stake their name on it. For the first time ever, Red Bull will race with a power unit built in-house. No Renault, no Honda, no safety nets, just Red Bull powertrains and Ford. Because in 2026, Formula 1 doesn't just reset the rules, it resets reputations. If this works, Ford returns to F1 as a modern powerhouse, not a legacy name. If it fails, Red Bull risks falling off the grid. And Ford risks proving that they never belonged in modern Formula 1 at all. This isn't just a comeback story, it is a gamble. Red Bull's decision to build an engine had been coming for years. Honda's original exit announcement in 2020 sent shockwaves through Milton Keynes. At the time, Red Bull had just climbed back to top of Formula 1, and suddenly the foundation of that success was being pulled out. They had no replacement lined up, no long-term solution, and no obvious way out. Red Bull lobbied hard for an engine freeze, and won. It bought them time, but didn't solve the real issue. Because the frozen engines still needed a future. So Red Bull did something that no energy drink company was ever supposed to do. They decided to build their own engine for the next set of regulation cycles. Honda power units were rebatched as Red Bull powertrains. Their brand new engine facilities were being built in Milton Keynes. For the first time, Red Bull were preparing life as a manufacturer, not a customer. But they weren't fully convinced that they should do it alone. Behind closed doors, Red Bull explored alternatives. And one name, more than any other, came close. Porsche. On paper, it made sense. Prestige. Experience. German engineering. But Porsche wanted influence. 50% equity. A say in how Red Bull racing was run. And that was the line Red Bull would not cross. The deal collapsed. At the same time, on the other side of the Atlantic, Ford were watching Formula 1 change. The sport was exploding in popularity. The United States was becoming the central of the calendar. And 2026 regulations finally aligned with what Ford actually cared about. Seeing everything happening, they emailed Red Bull. And rather than speculate on why this happened, we had the chance to ask the person leading Ford's return to Formula 1. Why is Ford returning to Formula 1 now, after decades away? And what makes 2026 the right time for you guys to come back? Ford has tremendous history in Formula 1. Especially through the 70s, 80s, 90s. Our partnership with Cosworth and the success of the DFB engine. Third winningest manufacturer in the sport. But as you said, we've been gone for just over 20 years now. But now is the right time. Where three years ago, three to four years ago, we felt it was the right time. As we saw what was happening, what was being developed for the 2026 regulations. With electrification, the hybrid, the commitment of the sport to be carbon net zero. But also the popularity of the sport. And even stronger globally. And even stronger in the U.S. than it had been. So we knew four years ago, we wanted to find a way to come back into the sport. We found the right partner with Red Bull. We're excited to be on track while testing next month. But then racing two months after that. It's important for us to be in F1 as the pinnacle of motorsport. And we consider racing as part of the fabric of Ford Motor Company. And it's the right place for us to be. From the outside, Ford's return to Formula 1 looks sudden. But when you break down the grid in the early 2020s, Red Bull wasn't just an option. It was almost the only option that actually made sense. Mercedes, Ferrari, Alpine, McLaren and Aston Martin were all road car manufacturers. Direct competitors and most of them are full factory teams. Williams and Haas were available, but not competitive. And not positioned to win the short term. And Sauber were already bought by Audi. By process of elimination, one team stood apart. Red Bull and their sister team, RB. Red Bull doesn't sell road cars. They don't compete in Ford's business. There's no brand conflict, no diluted message, no internal politics. For Ford, that mattered. Red Bull's track record with engine partners is quietly exceptional. They won championships with Renault. They won championships with Honda. Different philosophies, different cultures, same outcome. I've heard on a few interviews that Ford considered various options for entering F1. Why Red Bull instead of starting your own team or going with another manufacturer? Is there any reason behind that? Yeah, as we looked at it three to four years ago, we're looking, knowing that we wanted to come back into Formula 1, finding the right way to do it. And of course, purchasing a team or starting a new team was an option that we considered. But for us, we wanted to be focused and strategic in terms of what did we think we could really bring to a Formula 1 team to help it to be successful to win? And what did we really want to learn from it? And when you own a team, you're all in, right? Like you've got to be fully invested to win and focused on all elements of the car, the program and the execution. And we didn't think that was right for us, especially once we saw what Red Bull was doing at that point in time. In the latter half of 2022, they had already started the journey of doing their own powertrain in-house in Milton Keynes, a Red Bull powertrain. And from the very first discussion with Red Bull, it was very clear that there were things that we could contribute to their program to make it successful and things that we could learn from the program as well. So it was a very natural discussion from the very first meeting. And it's led to a great partnership, great collaboration of things that we're able to do together. When Red Bull and Ford announced the partnership, the internet split into two camps. One side saw it as a genuine return to Formula 1, the other saw something very different. Red Bull building the engine and Ford just putting their name on it, a logo and a marketing play. Because Formula 1 has seen this before, manufacturers attaching themselves to the projects without really being involved. And on the surface, the skepticism made sense since Red Bull had already started building its own power unit. So what exactly was Ford doing? What exactly does Ford contribute to the Red Bull partnership? Are you building specific engine parts or are you just providing expertise and funding and that sort of stuff? Yeah, it's both. It's a contribution of expertise or technical knowledge and it's manufacturing parts here in Dearborn. So the initial focus was more on the expertise part of it in terms of what we know about electrification, batteries, motors, software calibration. So there's a lot that has happened there. What we didn't anticipate as much from those early discussions is what we have the ability with our advanced manufacturing facilities, with additive manufacturing, to be able to produce parts here in Dearborn to supply in for not just for the testing and development phase, but parts that will be in the engine as it's going to be raced on track. Turns out this isn't Ford building an engine for Red Bull and it isn't Red Bull slapping a Ford badge on someone else's work. It's a hybrid model. Red Bull designing the power unit from the ground up with Ford embedded inside a process that turns the concept into real parts. That makes this partnership different from almost anything else on the grid. But this would create a new problem because when two organizations build something this new with no past engine to fall back on, there's no way to know if you're ahead and that's where this project could get dangerous. So what can we actually expect from Red Bull Ford engine? That's the question everyone's asking. The truth is nobody can fully answer yet, but Formula 1 history gives us a very clear clue. When engine regulations change, the team that gets it right early doesn't just win, they define the era. That's exactly what Mercedes did at the start of the hybrid era. That is the opportunity Red Bull and Ford are chasing, but it also creates the most uncomfortable question at all. How do you know you're winning when you can't see what anyone else is doing? So obviously in 2026, it's a clean slate for everyone. Do you believe the Red Bull Ford power unit is going to be competitive right out the gate? And I have to ask, how do you gauge where the rivals are as everyone's starting from zero? How do you know that you're going to be either first or last? How do you guess that? Yeah, so there's a lot of ways to answer the heck question, different dimensions of it, but we, of course, everywhere we race, our intention is to win, no matter what the racing series is. We know that every racing series has different challenges or a different level of competition. We know that coming with Red Bull Ford as a power unit startup, we know that it's a massive challenge to start from nothing and to come in in 2026, just three and a half years into the project, to come into such a competitive sport. But that is our intention. That's what Red Bull wants to do. That's what Ford wants to do. Our intention is to win. We know that that may not happen from day one because of the challenge that it is. And to your point of how do you gauge ourselves, you truly can't in many ways because we don't have full insight into what the competition is doing and where they are in their development program. What we do know is from the rules, theoretically, what is possible in terms of the efficiency from an engine within the rules as rich and what power levels can be delivered. And we know where we are relative to that theoretical optimum, similar on the battery and the motor and the inverter. So again, we believe we are in a good place based upon what's theoretically possible and where we are relative to that in terms of power reliability and the calibration, the delivery, the smoothness of it. We think we're in a good place, but we don't know and we won't know probably until the second test in Bahrain, maybe the third test in Bahrain because it's also an all new car. So once you go on track, you won't really know who's faster or slower. And is it because of the power unit? Is it because of the car? Is it because of who knows what's going on? But it's going to be exciting. It's great for the sport to have all new regulations. The question isn't, are we faster than Ferrari or Mercedes? It is how close are we to what's actually physically possible. And that's where things get uncomfortable because Formula One is full of manufacturers who looked unbeatable on paper and failed the moment they hit the track. Between 2015 and 2017, Honda entered the hybrid era convinced that they had cracked it. Each winter, the message was the same. This time, it is different. On paper, the concept made sense. Then the cars hit the track, disaster struck. That's why all of this, every dyno run, every simulation, every optimistic statement only really matters once the cars roll out in Bahrain. Until then, nobody truly knows where the engine stacks up. Before Ford ever thought about returning to Formula One, they'd already proven something very important. They didn't need F1 to validate them. Ford's resume is one of the strongest in the world. They beat Ferrari and Le Mans in 1966, then came back 50 years later and did it again. They've won everywhere from NASCAR to rallying, from endurance racing to off-road, Dakar, WRC. This is a company that enters motorsport to win, not to participate, which makes their Formula One story uncomfortable to say the least because Ford didn't just try to win Formula One once, they owned the team. In 1999, Ford bought Stewart Grand Prix outright and rebranded as Jaguar Racing, positioning Jaguar as their global luxury performance brand meant to compete directly with Ferrari, McLaren, and BMW. Jaguar Racing was a full Ford Works team, Ford money, Ford engines, and Ford decision-making. And crucially, the team was based in Milton Keynes, the same site that would later become Red Bull Racing. On paper, Jaguar Racing should have worked. Ford spent heavily, they had access to elite engineering talent, but on track, the results never came. Across five seasons, Jaguar Racing managed just two podiums. Their best championship finish was seventh. For a manufacturer team with a massive budget, that isn't just disappointing, it is a failure. And the reasons why matter. Jaguar Racing was plagued by constant leadership changes. Team principals came and went. Technical direction shifted year to year. Long-term vision never had time to settle. By 2004, new Ford CEO Bill Ford Jr. began cutting expensive, non-core programs. Formula One was seen as high-cost, low-return. It wasn't moving road cars, it wasn't delivering results. So Ford pulled the plug. They exited Formula One completely. And then, they did something that would become legendary. They sold the team, the Milton Keynes factory, the staff, the infrastructure, for one dollar. That team became Red Bull Racing, which is where the irony starts to bite. Because 20 years later, Ford is walking back through the same gates. The same buildings, one of which is still called the Stewart Building. But this time, Ford isn't in charge. And that might be the most important difference of all. Since buying that one-dollar operation, Red Bull has built one of the most ruthless winning cultures in modern F1 history. Multiple titles, multiple engine partners, relentless execution. And that's why this partnership exists. Ford isn't coming back to Formula One to control the project. They're coming back to enable it. Instead of setting the agenda, they're contributing where they are the strongest. Electrification, manufacturing, software, and production speed. It's a fundamentally different approach to Jaguar. And yet, the pressure hasn't disappeared. If anything, it's grown. Because Ford knows what failure in Formula One looks like. They lived it. You guys are, coincidentally, coming back to almost the same team that you guys left. Obviously, it was Stewart, powered by Ford Racing, then became Jaguar, and then Red Bull. Almost like you never left. Yeah, there is, I guess, some level of irony, as you think about that. And maybe it's very fitting, right? Because at that point in time, I don't believe that Ford or Jaguar, that we were actually doing it in the right way for the right reasons. And exiting, although I wasn't part of it, exiting probably made sense. But then as we struck up the conversations to come back into Formula One, and we talked to Red Bull, the fact that they were there on the same campus that used to be Stewart F1 and Jaguar F1, now at Red Bull F1 to be there as Red Bull Ford, maybe it's very fitting to come back in physically in the place that we exited. It's a very different campus. There's so many more people there. There's so many more facilities there. It's an incredible organization with what they have there for facilities, for people, the winning culture that they have and demonstrated with all the race wins and race championships. When you go into the main building, it's still called the Stewart Building. When you go into that main building and you walk into the lobby and you look up and around at the number of trophies that Red Bull has brought home to Milton Keynes, it's a testament to who they are as a company, as a racing team, and we're proud to partner with them to come back into Formula One. The 2026 power unit regulations are set to last five years and Formula One history is brutally consistent on one thing. If you start an engine regulation cycle on the back foot, you usually stay there and this time the margins for recovery are even smaller. You can't just spend your way out of trouble anymore. Under the current rules, the power unit development is capped at roughly 130 million a year. That limit covers development, manufacturing and operation. So if you get the fundamentals wrong early, there is no financial nuclear option, no late miracle. Once you're behind, you're behind within a box. That's why this partnership is so consequential. If Red Bull Ford missed the mark badly in 2026, the realistic outcome isn't a slow climb back to the front. It is likely writing off the entire regulation cycle, not forever, but effectively until the next reset. And that's where the stakes split in an interesting way. For Red Bull, a weak engine wouldn't hurt badly. They'd be forced to lean even harder on the chassis, aero and execution to stay relevant. But Red Bull as a team has survived supply changes before. They've rebuilt, they've adapted. For Ford, the risk cuts differently. Formula One is unforgiving in how it judges relevance. If this project fails convincingly, the narrative won't be the new engine, tough learning curve. It will be Ford couldn't make it work in modern Formula One. And that kind of reputational hit is harder to undo than poor results table. That's why commitment matters here. What about the commitment? Do you see this as a long-term venture beyond the 26 to 30 regulation cycle, or is it too early for you? Formally, we've said our commitment is through 2030, through the current regulations. But our commitment is to stay here. So as the rules and regulations for 2031 start to come into focus, we're starting to see what those are now. It's still of as much or more interest than what it is for 26 through 2030. So our intention is to be here long-term. There's no reason to leave. And we're doing that in all of our motor sports, whether it's sports car, NASCAR, Australia supercars, we're in it for the long haul because it is important to our company. It's an important part of our business and it's important to our employees. Formerly Ford is committed through 2030. Beyond that, nothing is contractually locked in. But intent and obligation aren't the same thing. If this project collapses early, if performance is uncompetitive and the story turns sour, Ford would face a hard choice, double down and fight or cut their losses before the damage grows. On the flip side, even the modest success changes everything. Formula One is exploiting in scale, commercially, culturally, especially in the United States. Any proof that this partnership works, any sign that Red Bull Ford belongs at the front would make leaving far harder than staying. There's another version of this story because everything we've just talked about, the cost caps, the pressure, the five-year window cuts both ways. If Red Bull and Ford get this right early, the upside isn't just competitive. Formula One is growing faster in the United States than any point in its history. Three races, Netflix and now Apple TV. And for the first time, not just American interest but American manufacturers fully invested. Cadillac is coming and Ford isn't just showing up. They're attaching their name to the sharp end of the grid. If Red Bull Ford succeed, this isn't just a win on track. It validates Formula One as a modern American-facing sport. This is the scenario Formula One wants. American brands, American audiences without diluting the sport. And Ford especially success here would do something rare. It would rewrite their modern Formula One identity as winners. Ford believes they belong in Formula One as a modern competitor. In 2026, that belief gets tested with Red Bull, with the world watching. Now all that's left is to race. If you want to understand the other American F1 entry, the Cadillac video is on the screen now. Watch it next and see how they plan to win in F1.