Stories on wheels: why Ford and Red Bull would have joined their paths from 2026 in Formula 1

In 1975 Ferrari was the only one of the thirteen teams participating in Formula 1 not to have a Ford engine inside. Thirty years later, the American automaker had lost its last team -Jaguar- at the hands of an energy drink which would have won its first title in 2010 and which is now, in 2023, about to announce its agreement to become Red Bull Fords from 2026.

On Friday 3 February, in New York, the champion team will present its car for the season which will start on 5 March in Bahrain and the choice of the United States would not have been accidental. As reported this week, Ford has envoys in the Big Apple to confirm, together with the Austrian team, what is now a rumor.

The return of the Americans only in three years has a justification – the onset of hybrid engines. And also the partnership: the knowledge and support that Ford gives to Red Bull Powertrains, the department created in Milton Keynes to build its engines from 2025, when Honda moves away from F1.

In return, the automaker will receive marketing honeys in the most important category in the world, respecting the saying used in motorsports in the United States: “Win Sunday, Sell Monday”.

The curious thing is that the link will be given between who was a seller and a buyer just over 18 years ago. Is that in November 2004 Dietrich Mateschitz took out of his pocket the dollar with which Red Bull symbolically bought the Jaguar facility, Ford’s last official presence in a Formula 1 in which never participated as an official team.

On sale for $1

Jaguar It was one of Ford’s British luxury brands and was chosen to move into Formula 1 in the winter of 1999 when Jackie Stewart sold his team. “I’m green with envy”, were the words chosen by its president, Wolfgang Reitzle, in the presentation. The reference was to Ferrari, the team that, on the basis of a large sum of money, they wanted to dethrone.

With Johnny Herbertwho remained in the team, and Eddie Irvine, who came from Ferrari, as drivers, the R1’s premiere was on January 9, 2000 in a training session at the Circuit de Catalunya. But the car designed by Gary Anderson and powered, logically, by a Ford engine (the V10 Ford Cosworth CR-2) did not have the expected result in his debut season. Conversely, with just four points, he finished bottom.

In a time marked by the overwhelming dominance of prancing Horse and Michael Schumacher -winner of five consecutive titles-, Jaguar finished eighth in 2001 and seventh in 2002, with two isolated podiums: those of Irvine in Monaco 2001 and Monza 2002. That seventh place was repeated in 2003 and also in the year of his farewell.

A faulty administration did not even leave Niki Laudawho started as a councilor and had been appointed team manager in the midst of Jaguar’s F1 adventure but entered the payroll of the 70 employees laid off in the 2002 season. That year, moreover, a deadline arrived from Detroit: if there was no progress in two years, F1 was over.

After five years of existence they have not won a race or achieved a pole position and Ford has lived up to his threat. On November 15, 2004, the media reported that the billionaire founder of an Austrian soft drink company had bought the Jaguar team from the Ford group. in exchange for a dollara symbolic price that was paid on the closing day of entries for 2005.

“It’s true, this weekend we bought Jaguar Racing after reaching an agreement with Ford”I told him Dietrich Mateschitz to the Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper.

For the first year only, Red Bull continued to use the Ford-Cosworth engines. In 2006 he bought them from Ferrari and from the following season he already had the Renaults with which in 2010 he would have been world champion for the first time with Sebastian Vettel.

On October 22, 2022, Mateschitz died at the age of 78. Three months later, Red Bull is about to partner with Ford.

Ford, a rich history in F1

Henry Ford II wanted to buy the empire built by Enzo Ferrari and, as he could not, he declared war on the stable. Part of that battle is depicted in the film “Against the Impossible”which recalls Ford’s victory over Ferrari in the historic 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966. A few weeks before that event, in Monaco, bruce mclaren debuted the first Ford-powered McLaren in F1.

Even if it has never participated in Formula 1 as an official teamFord has a rich history built from the 1960s to that 2004 when it sold Jaguar and never came back. Perhaps for this reason, Mark Rushbrook, global brand director of the Ovalo, was encouraged to say in 2018 “never say never” when asked about a return to the category where he was champion for the first time in 1968 driving a Lotus.

Five years later, Ford marked a milestone in F1, because in addition to driving the Lotus that won the Constructors’ World Championship, its V8 engine was in the other four teams that made up that top 5 for 1973as well as three that completed the top ten, behind Ferrari (6th) and BRM (7th).

he made it in collaboration with Coswortha union that has been a success, because these powerful engines have accumulated more than 150 victories and 22 titles, between constructors and drivers. However, to make it happen, the action of Colin Chapman.

Founder of Lotus Cars, F1 team principal and one of the coolest engineers ever I wanted a winning engine and convinced Ford to give Cosworth co-founder and owner Keith Duckworth the chance to finance and build an engine that would dominate the era.

From the convergence of Ford and Cosworth was born the DF extension or double four-valve, i.e. two 1.8-litre in-line four-cylinder engines arranged in a V with an angle of 90°. Although it was not the most powerful engine at the time, because Ferrari had a V12 with more horsepower, the advantage was its weight, among other virtues of its design, such as being bolted to the monocoque behind the driver, without being supported by a tubular frame, for example.

Winner at Monaco, Le Mans and, in its turbo variant, at the Indianapolis 500, the DFV -with its evolutions and adaptations, such as the DFY with which he ended his career in 1985- he reigned in F1 for almost two decades.

In 1975, for example, 12 of the 13 World Cup teams (Brabham, McLaren, Hesketh, Tyrrell, Shadow, Lotus, March, Williams, Parnelli, Hill, Penske and Ensign) had this V8 engine.. Naturally, everyone succumbed to the overwhelming pace of Niki Lauda and his Ferrari 312T.

Although James Hunt won the title in a McLaren Ford in 1976 and Mario Andretti did the same in a Lotus Ford in 1978, the lead was only held until the early 1980s when Alan Jones (Williams), Nelson Piquet (Brabham) and Keke Rosberg (Williams) were the last champions with cars powered by the Americans.

The advent of turbochargers dethroned those Ford-Cosworth engines and progressively, V8s gradually disappeared. While Ford left F1 in the aforementioned 2004 championship, Cosworth held on until 2013 with the Marussia team.