Red Bull, Ford Taking Big Risk With F1 Partnership

Last February, Ford announced that it would be making its long-awaited return to Formula 1 racing as part of a new partnership with the Oracle Red Bull team. The Blue Oval will produce power units for Red Bull starting in 2026, which will also help FoMoCo develop its next-generation all-electric powertrain technology at the same time. Back in September, the automaker announced that these new Red Bull Ford powertrains will utilize Oracle’s cloud technology, as well as the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio of industry software as the team aims to complete a rather daunting task – build a competitive power unit from the ground up in a short period of time. Regardless, both sides are well aware of the risks involved with such an endeavor, as Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admitted in a recent interview with Sky Sports.

“There is an equalization mechanism in the rules, but it always has a latency around it, usually a 12-month delay,” Horner said. “We’ve invested in the UK along with our partners, together with Ford, to have the engine facility on campus. Now we’ve got a factory, state-of-the-art facilities and close to 500 people working on the 2026 engine.”

“But going from nothing to taking on Mercedes, Ferrari, Honda, Renault, and Audi, we’re looking forward to it but it’s a bold move, even though it’s one we think will pay off in the long term. With stable regulations we’ll get into diminishing returns anyway. We’re probably closer to the top of the development curve already. We’re fully expecting Ferrari or Mercedes or even Aston Martin to be contenders next year.”

These comments are understandable given the fact that Red Bull has relied on an engine supplier since its inception in 2005, a tradition that will soon come to an end as it prepares to build power units in partnership with Ford at its own facility. The Red Bull Oracle team was essentially forced to make a move after Honda decided to end its own partnership with the team and move on to Aston Martin in 2026, but given the tremendous success that pairing has proven to be, replicating those efforts was always going to be a difficult task, even given Ford’s own rich history in F1 racing.

We’ll have more on Ford’s return to F1 soon, so sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Ford motorsports news and ongoing Ford news coverage.