Ford making its F1 presence felt with Red Bull

For two entities that have at times insisted there isn’t going to be a rivalry between them in Formula 1, Ford and General Motors have one brewing.

Admittedly, the GM side of the flames were first stoked by Cadillac F1 Team CEO Dan Towriss back in late November, when he dismissed Ford’s involvement as “a marketing deal with very minimal impact,” compared to the equity stake held in his team by GM. Since then he has not publicly spoken of Ford (although whether the timing of Cadillac’s first run of its 2026 car – less than 24 hours after Ford’s season launch – was purely coincidental remains to be seen).

On one hand, Towriss is right. Ford doesn’t have equity in Red Bull Racing or Red Bull Ford Powertrains, and on top of its ownership, GM is putting its entire Cadillac name to the project. Plus a GM powertrain program is in the process of being set up with the target of delivering its first power unit by the end of the decade.

But that program is a number of years away from bringing anything to the track, and as such a Ferrari power unit will be in the back of the first Cadillac F1 car for its early seasons in the sport. Something that is not lost on Ford Racing GM Will Ford.

“I guess I would say, what sounds more like a marketing ploy? What we're doing with our engineers embedded with the Red Bull team and a team of engineers in Dearborn supporting the program, or Cadillac racing a Ferrari engine?” Ford told RACER. “That's table stakes for us. We would never go into a sport and race another company's engine. So I think it's pretty clear which one's more of a marketing effort.

“Bring it on [the rivalry]. Absolutely. I mean, we compete against GM every single day. So, bring it to the greatest showcase of motorsport. That's where we expect to fight them and we're going to beat them there too.”

Red Bull's Laurent Mekies at the launch in Detroit that emphasized a lot more than just a livery. Sal Rodriguez/Red Bull Content Pool

The counterargument is that Ford isn’t involved in the car design and is racing a Red Bull engine, but the involvement has certainly evolved. There are very much different levels of influence from the respective automotive giants on the F1 teams they are part of, but Ford’s approach is to provide whatever Red Bull asks for.

“It had to be quite a fluid partnership. I think that's going to happen with an endeavor this big on a timeline that we were on, that there's always going to be unforeseen things that arise and new challenges that you're not expecting," Ford said. "And so that's been part of the beauty of the partnership.

“We have engineers embedded with their team in Milton Keynes and we have engineers back in Dearborn supporting the program. And so as we've continued development and identified areas that Ford could contribute to the development, we've been opportunistic about those. So it's been a great two-way relationship where we're finding the ways to get the most out of each team in the most effective way together.”

One such area that has seen Ford influence grow beyond the initial expectations has been around advanced manufacturing, with Ford powertrain chief engineer Christian Hertrich revealing its state-of-the-art 3D printing technology has allowed it to reduce a manufacturing window for printing prototype parts from Red Bull’s previous 16 days down to five.

Ford Racing global director Mark Rushbrook says that’s just one of a number of areas where the company has made its resource and expertise available as and when it’s required.

“From the very first discussion – which was [then Red Bull team principal] Christian Horner and myself – it was I'd say a modest list of, ‘OK, these are the areas where we think we can contribute, where we think we want to learn,’ and that was a starting point,” Rushbrook said. “And then I went and had a discussion with [Red Bull Powertrains technical director] Ben Hodgkinson and that list got a little bit longer.

“And through time it got longer, but the way we looked at it is we're committed partners in the sense that they want to win, we want to win, what does it take to win? So we've always said whatever is available we will help this program within the framework of the program.

“So it's been a great partnership, We've brought a lot to it, but the commitment from Red Bull from their decision – they were ready to go alone if they had to. So it was very fortunate that we were able to come in for us and to be able to help them in this way.”

Expectations have been heavily dampened by Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies, given the complexity of building a power unit in isolation, let alone as a brand-new manufacturer. But for Ford, the target is to win with a team that has proven its credentials throughout its F1 history so far.

While the current influence on the power unit project might be modest, Will Ford insists it will increase if needed as the blue oval is fixated on success on track.

“When we went to Le Mans in 2016 with the GT program, I think everybody said there's going to be a learning curve, that's going to take years for that car to be competitive," he noted. "And we shocked everyone and won in our first year back. So, I mean, we've proven we can do that.

“We hope and expect this power unit to be competitive right from the start. But we're also realistic and we know how different the playing field is going to be next year across the grid with the new regulations. And if we're not having the success we want and expect right away, we're going to do the work required to make sure that we're competitive and winning sooner rather than later.”

There was more to Thursday night than just F1, with significant WEC and NASCAR announcements from Ford early in proceedings, but it was the Red Bull partnership that dominated the show.

Launching its season just a mile and a half from GM’s own headquarters in Detroit, Ford wanted to make its presence felt. And regardless of the levels of involvement, 2026 will see the two iconic brands competing on the same track in F1. Rivalry will be hard to avoid.