Red Bull – Ford: the substance behind the show

From Detroit
It was a grand event in Detroit, officially inaugurating the consortium between Red Bull and Ford. What initially started as a marketing operation has slowly transformed into a technical collaboration, with the ambition to extend it further in the near future. In 2026 the Milton Keynes team will also become a complete manufacturer, but it will be difficult to confirm itself in the top positions immediately. Here’s Ford again. It’s a Formula 1 that returns to organize presentations in a big way, even without revealing the real car, with hundreds of people who crowded the imposing Detroit Central Station to celebrate the marriage between Red Bull and the house of the blue oval. Drivers, managers, engineers, Nascar champions and other well-known faces from the Ford world took turns on the stage set up inside the former station, furnished with racing cars of all eras and types, positioned between simulators, shops and refreshment points. The American giant spared no expense, inviting journalists from all over the world to see first-hand the contribution to the Red Bull power unit. Ford returns to the Circus 125 years after its first race, with the winnings of which Henry Ford managed to finance his first model. The mind immediately goes to the legendary Cosworth DFV engine, which in its various versions won in Formula 1, at Indianapolis and at Le Mans. However, the technical context has changed profoundly since then, with Ford this time finding itself competing in a world where virtual simulation and electrification are the protagonists. Photograph by Vladimir Rys The project The Detroit company has progressively expanded its involvement in Formula 1 compared to the initial plans, when the marriage with Red Bull should have been a pure marketing operation. Ford already has four engineers working at its Milton Keynes plants, with others soon to be added, in addition to those working at its headquarters in Michigan. At the moment, the blue oval house is producing 12 pieces of turbo, MGU-K and cooling system through additive manufacturing techniques. Other projects include the development of battery management software and advanced AI-based simulation models. At the same time, Red Bull draws on Ford’s experience in racing and on the road, in what is also a real consultancy with American engineers for the most disparate operations, from the calibration of test benches to vibration analyses. Meanwhile, the first skirmishes of what will be the Detroit derby have already started, with the CEO of the Cadillac team, Dan Towriss, who defined the Ford-Red Bull partnership as a mere advertising campaign. Jim Farley, CEO of the Blue Oval, dismisses the provocation, calling it “comical, nothing worth commenting on.” Ford’s number one raises his eyebrows, predicting a growing technical involvement in the coming seasons: “It’s not a marketing operation, but a pure engineering one. I can’t wait to observe the technological transfer that we will have in two years when we are at full capacity.” Photograph by Vladimir Rys A new era Ford, however, does not want to take credit that it does not have for what remains first and foremost a Red Bull power unit. The Milton Keynes team embarked on a titanic operation, building factories that did not exist in the space of four years, equipping them with all the necessary facilities and hiring over 600 engineers. It is difficult to expect immediate success and perhaps for this reason Laurent Mekies presents himself to the press decidedly relaxed. The same goes for Verstappen, who conforms to the competition in waiting for Barcelona before commenting on the new cars, a test session in which work on reliability will take priority. Overall, even on a communication level there is an air of freshness in Red Bull, telling of an ongoing cultural renewal compared to the Horner management. A new era opens for the Milton Keynes team and not only for the regulatory revolution or for the power unit project. The difficult thing will be to confirm oneself at the top without the protagonists of the successes of the ground effect era, above all Christian Horner, Jonathan Wheatley, Helmut Marko, Adrian Newey and Rob Marshall, outlining the prospect that 2026 could be a year of transition.