The racer behind Ford's F1 partnership with Red Bull

Why did Ford re-enter Formula 1 with Red Bull? It makes technical and marketing sense, writes Andrew Frankel, but don't discount the enthusiasm of its racer boss

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Ford CEO Jim Farley with Red Bull drivers and Christian Horner

Ford CEO Jim Farley (centre) joined the launch

Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Even by Formula 1 standards, a world powered by engines less than two dozen times a year but by gossip 24/7, the fact that Ford is returning to Formula 1 was one of the least secret secrets of all.

Speculation, rumour, leaks, and the studied refusal of anyone at Ford to confirm or deny the rumours meant that there wasn’t much in the way of a surprise at this afternoon’s news that Ford really is going back into F1 with Red Bull from 2026.

It should be said front and centre that Ford is not entering either as a constructor or even as a supplier of complete powertrains as it had with Cosworth in the good old days of the DFV and others; instead Ford will become a name on the engine cover of the Red Bulls from that season onwards. There is a bit more going on behind the scenes and it’s a theme I’ll expand upon in a minute.

For now though I guess the first question is: why? By the time the Blue Oval returns to the grid it will be over two decades since its last sojourn at the top level of motor racing came to an end, and anyone old enough to remember Ford’s Jaguar-branded time in the sport will recall also it was not a happy experience.

F1 Jaguar of Christian Klien is launched into the air

Ford’s F1 leap of faith with Jaguar did not work out

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The simple answer is that the sport is a completely different animal, with commercial opportunities available to its stakeholders today that could not have been imagined at the turn of the century. In North America alone there will be no fewer than five grands prix in 2023, in Miami, Austin, Las Vegas, Mexico and Montreal, so it’s perhaps no wonder that not only Ford but its big Stateside rival General Motors have both directed their attentions towards Formula 1.

But that’s not all, nor even close. Formula 1 today is box office in a way it has never been before, beamed live into our sitting rooms not just on race weekends, but whenever we wish thanks to not simply to dedicated F1 channels such as those on Sky, but transformative programming like Drive To Survive. This in particular has prised the lid off F1 like nothing in its history to date, allowing the viewer to peer inside a world from which until now he and she have been effectively entirely excluded. As a result the sport has become more interesting, more popular and more appealing to those seeking to exploit it for their own marketing purposes.

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But Ford’s involvement will go beyond that of just a sponsor. It is the second-largest manufacturer of hybrid powertrains in the world, and second-largest manufacturer of EVs in North America. That expertise will be offered to Red Bull as it develops battery cells and electric motors for its 2026 engine. Fords’s know-how will also be used in the engineering of the combustion engine, and for the complex software that manages the capture and delivery of power.

This is, after all, hardly Aston Martin whose wings appeared on the Red Bull engine cover by financial transaction alone. There is perhaps also a case of keeping up with its rivals: if GM is to get back on the grid, as per its Cadillac-branded entry with Andretti, would Ford really want to be left in a position where it could be portrayed as a mere advertiser by comparison, simply playing at it while the opposition got properly stuck in?

Consider finally the man behind it, Ford CEO Jim Farley. This is a man who races a GT40 very competitively and entirely for fun, much to the discomfort of his shareholders. He is a racer through and through and while such decisions should be made for cold, calculating commercial reasons, I thank goodness that sometimes they are not. He does make a good case for the deal, though.

“Ford’s return to Formula 1 with Red Bull Racing is all about where we are going as a company – increasingly electric, software-defined, modern vehicles and experiences,” said Farley. “F1 will be an incredibly cost-effective platform to innovate, share ideas and technologies, and engage with tens of millions of new customers.”

Ford GT40 of Jim Farley at the Le Mans Classic

Jim Farley in For GT40 at Le Mans Classic

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As for Ford’s choice of partner, let’s not forget where Red Bull’s F1 team came from in the first place: for it was to Red Bull that Ford sold the Jaguar team that it had bought from Jackie Stewart. What’s more I’d be surprised indeed if there were not staff there today who can still remember when Ford used to sign their pay cheques.

It will be interesting to see what comes of the arrangement over the years to come. For those of us old enough to remember, we recall very well that it was Ford’s decision to bankroll Keith Duckworth’s innovative 3-litre V8 engine in 1967 that created the most successful race engine of all time, the only one that, in one form or another won every major motor race in the world, from the Monaco Grand Prix to the Indy 500 to the Le Mans 24 Hours.

And regardless of the heritage, it has to be healthy to have another major, credible manufacturer coming to Formula 1 especially as it’s not there just to paint blue ovals on the sides of Red Bulls and AlphaTauris too. With Audi already committed, GM trying to convince F1 its bid is meritworthy and Porsche known still to regard F1 as unfinished business, there could be exciting times ahead for the sport.

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