Ford is hard at work preparing for the 2026 Formula One season, having officially started work on an F1 power unit with sights set on getting Oracle Red Bull back to Victory Lane. Although Ford has been out of the F1 game for over two decades now, Ford Performance head Mark Rushbrook says he’s not worried, as The Blue Oval has an advantage over the rest of the grid, according to a recent report from Motorsport.
Ford’s lofty plans for F1 include helping Red Bull produce its own power units in-house, rather than relying on a third party. They may be at a disadvantage to teams like Ferrari, which have decades of experience building their own power units, but Rushbrook says that’s not a concern. In fact, Ford is able to solely focus on the future and building next-gen power units instead of having to divert its resources toward developing power units under the current guidelines as well.
“It is absolutely true that at Ferrari they have the knowledge, all the people and all that experience in a system that already works. So yes, they might have an advantage with that,” Rushbrook said in an interview. “But I would say that one of the things though where we have an advantage is the team that is working on the power unit for us, for 2026, is only working on the power unit for 2026. They are not working on the power units for today.”
Comments
There’s clearly a lot riding on the relative success of this program. If it doesn’t go well, sure Ford will have gained valuable knowledge regarding these power plants, but at what potential injury to their brand? Guess we’ll find out.
I’m not sure any perceived failure in F1 could hurt Ford’s brand, at least not in the US. I can’t speak to that in Europe. I would be more concerned with it being a money pit, although the R&D might be worth it alone, don’t know. I do hope they do well, though.
Mark, trust me, Ferrari, Honda, Mercedes and Audi are working on 2026 engines now.
The big worry is if Red Bull team implodes..