Ford has saved a pretty large announcement for our Ford February it seems…
The American auto giant is heading back to Formula 1 courtesy of a partnership with Red Bull Racing from 2026.
Ford has gone full circle in many ways, reuniting with the team that bought its Jaguar Racing entry in 2005 that had been born out of the Ford-supported Stewart Grand Prix.
So it’s been more than 20 years since the Blue Oval was last on an F1 car, but it is no stranger to the series.
Before teaming up with Sir Jackie and Paul Stewart, it could and still can claim the most wins for an engine. The DFV, bankrolled by Ford but created by Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth for Cosworth, was dominant from the late 1960s to mid-’80s in all manner of machines.
In anything but a Ferrari, in many ways.
Lotus was first on the DFV train, or rather pulled it, because Colin Chapman was the man who commissioned the new company. Graham Hill won the 1968 World Championship for Lotus and the floodgates opened: Ford power won seven titles in seven years, eight in nine, nine in 11, 10 in 13 and finally 12 in 15.
Only when turbos kicked in did the DFV’s reign end, but it added two Le Mans victories in that time for good measure with Mirage and Rondeau.
It took a decade or so and few missteps, but with Bennetton and Michael Schumacher the Ford badge again topped the world in 1994 – 12 years, neatly, after Keke Rosberg’s one-win World Championship.
Johnny Herber’s famous win for Stewart tempted Ford full-speed into Formula 1 and they went all in on Jaguar. Big names in the boardroom turned into too many cooks and the promise was unfulfilled.
This latest comeback won’t be anything like as hands-on but it’s more than a sponsorship and branding exercise, we’re told. And they’ve certainly been saying the right things: “This is the start of a thrilling new chapter in Ford’s motorsports story that began when my great-grandfather won a race that helped launch our company,” said Bill Ford, executive chair.
“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,” added CEO and president (and racer) Jim Farley. “F1 will be an incredibly cost-effective platform to innovate, share ideas and technologies, and engage with tens of millions of new customers.
“We will be competing to win in F1, the pinnacle for motor sport, with Red Bull Racing,” he continued. “You will see the world’s most popular sports coupe, the Mustang, race from the grassroots to Australian Supercars to NASCAR to Le Mans. And will build our off-road leadership in the World Rally Championship, King of Hammers and to the Baja 1000 and more. All the while, we’ll continue to excite the world with cool demonstrators like SuperVan 4 and Mustang Mach-E 1400.”
Don’t forget, this month’s Assembly celebrates the Blue Oval. Book your tickets now for just £5 per person.
