Motorsport: Ford returns to Formula 1 in partnership with Red Bull

The new RB19 F1 car is unveiled during an event in New York, Friday, Feb. 3, 2023. Ford will return to Formula One as the engine provider for Red Bull Racing in a partnership announced Friday that begins with immediate technical support this season and engines in 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Formula 1’s booming popularity in the United States has lured another American brand to the series as Ford said Friday it would return to the globe-trotting series as the engine provider for Red Bull Racing.

The partnership begins with immediate technical support this season, but Ford engines in 2026 when F1 adopts new hybrid regulations that lured Ford back after a 24-year absence.

Red Bull powertrains and Ford will partner on the development of a hybrid power unit that will supply engines to both Red Bull and AlphaTauri when new F1 regulations begin in 2026. The partnership — which is for at least eight years — was announced in New York as Red Bull unveiled the car design it will use in 2023. Red Bull won the constructors title last season, and Max Verstappen is the two-time defending world champion.

The F1 2026 rule changes call for the current twin-turbo V6 engines to run on sustainable fuel and be fitted with hybrid components.

“Red Bull is committed to winning and they’ve demonstrated that they are capable of winning,” Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance, told The Associated Press. “We want to be in motorsports for the technology and for the marketing, but we want to do it winning and with the right partner. They’re committed to that, they have a winning culture.”

Ford dominated F1 in the late 1960s and 1970s as an engine manufacturer with Cosworth and the American automaker is the third most successful engine maker in F1 history with 10 constructors’ championships and 13 drivers’ championships. Ford won 176 races and owned and ran the Jaguar F1 team until 2004 when Jaguar was sold and became Red Bull Racing.

Ford was lured back to F1, where it competed for 38 years until it pulled out in 2004, by F1′s focus on sustainable racing and explosion in popularity throughout North America.

“To have the ability to draw on Ford’s experience, EV knowledge and depth of resource is tremendously exciting,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. “From the first moment we met and spoke, it was clear there was a natural synergy between the two companies. an easy deal to put together because the desire was there from both sides.”

Ford is the first American engine supplier to commit to F1 and its impending regulations as the series is set to race five times this year in North America, with three of those races in the United States. General Motors has announced a partnership with Andretti Global to be its engine supplier if Andretti gets an F1 team.

“The numbers globally are enormous for Formula 1,” Rushbrook told The AP. “Especially in the United States, where the growth and diversity of the fans is enormous. That’s important for us. We don’t want to just race and learn technology. We need to do that. We must do that. But we also must be able to connect with fans.

“With Red Bull and AlphaTauri, that’s exactly what we will be able to do.”

Red Bull will continue to race with unbranded Honda power units until 2026. Honda withdrew from F1 at the end of the 2021 season and Red Bull used its own-badged engines to win both championships in 2022. Honda still owns the intellectual property of the engines and agreed to maintain and support the powerplants until 2026.

Porsche was set to replace Honda with Red Bull and when that deal collapsed, Ford jumped in. Ford will begin with immediate technical assistance and then supply Ford engines when the new regulations begin.