What will Ford's return to F1 potentially mean to its involvement in other racing series?
Long-anticipated big news was finally announced Friday morning at the Red Bull Formula One team car reveal, namely, that Ford would be returning to the sport after a more than two-decade absence from the sport.
President & CEO of Ford Motor Company Jim Farley said of the Blue Oval’s return to F1, “We decided to have a strategic and a technical partnership with Red Bull Powertrains to enter Formula One in 2026."
Farley also mentioned that he is excited about F1’s ultimate goal of zero carbon emissions and green sustainability in the sport and that they are on that same mission at Ford, which last raced in F1 in 2004.
Red Bull’s team principal, Christian Horner, emphasized that he was very excited about Ford's depth of knowledge and resource for this project. He felt there was a natural synergy between both companies and that it was an easy deal to make because the design was there by both sides.
Horner is looking forward to bringing the power unit in-house with Ford's support. This also includes supplying the Alpha Tauri team which is partnered with Red Bull.
The new engine rules for 2026 have now allowed both Audi and Ford to enter the sport as engine suppliers. For Ford's sake, the new engine rules will shine a light on Ford's EVs, or at least that's what they hope.
Ford's technical team will work with the newly built Red Bull powertrain department to build an engine for the 2026 season and beyond, but with such an investment (around $100 million U.S.), the question has to be asked about what, if any, impact the return to F1 will have on any of Ford’s other motorsports investments.
The Dearborn, Mich.-based company is involved in various racing series already, and is a big name in all of them. That leads to a logical question: will Ford have to take a step back in these other sports to go fully 100% into the Formula One project?
Ford Motorsports is currently involved in NASCAR’s various series, NHRA, road racing, rallycross, Ford GT Racing, offroad racing, drifting, and now Formula One.
Let's take a look at these current investments and talk about their future after the F1 news:
**********
NASCAR: In terms of racing in America, Ford is best known for its NASCAR teams.
In terms of the Truck series, Ford's only team is ThorSport, a four-truck race team, along with Zane Smith with Front Row Motorsports. Although ThorSport is considered a top team, Ford could potentially pull out of its support of the Trucks, although the cost savings that could then be applied to the F1 program would be maybe a few million dollars, at best.
We saw this happen this year with Kyle Busch Motorsports switching from Toyota to Chevy – although to be fair, a lot of that had to do with Busch leaving Toyota-powered Joe Gibbs Racing himself to race for Chevy-powered Richard Childress Racing. Exiting the truck series by losing their only full team may be the best option for cutting back in terms of NASCAR.
Then there’s the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series.
Ford has had a lot of success in both series. Joey Logano, who drives for Team Penske, a Ford team, won the 2022 Cup championship.
Ford's development for NASCAR has also been at the cream of the crop, including Team Penske, Stewart Haas Racing and Front Row Motorsports. Young drivers such as Ryan Blaney and 2022 Daytona 500 winner (as a Cup rookie, no less) Austin Cindric went through the Ford system on their way to the Cup Series.
Hailie Deegan and Zane Smith are the next Ford drivers to likely head to the Cup Series in the next year or two, most likely.
With the amount of success Ford has had in these series and the drivers they currently have and are developing, it’s unlikely Ford will decrease its investment in NASCAR. In fact, word has it that Ford may be looking to expand its roster in 2024, to counter Toyota’s similar expansion plans.
**********
NHRA Drag Racing: Ford is decently involved in NHRA with five drivers on their three factory-sponsored teams. They have Bob Tasca III, who has accumulated 11 Funny Car wins in his career and has really come into his own in the last few seasons.
Ford is invested in the drivers they currently have, as well as their respective teams, but let’s not forget one thing: they parted ways with 16-time Funny Car champ John Force several years ago, so anything is possible.
If Ford were to pull out of NHRA, the seven-figure monetary savings would likely go straight to F1. So if any series should be worried the most about Ford’s future with F1, it’s NHRA.
Sure, drag racing is a niche sport that Ford has been involved in for a long time – and it doesn’t hurt to be involved when folks want to buy Ford-powered cars and trucks, particularly like the Ford Mustang or F150.
But at the same time, with the U.S. moving more toward an EV platform, and Mustangs and F1s are already there, could Ford quantify remaining in the fuel-powered world of drag racing – unless NHRA moves to an EV platform, which appears unlikely in an overall picture.
Still, drag racing and NHRA are both important to the Ford brand, so while we may not see a complete pullout/exit of the Blue Oval, a moderate-to-significant downsizing isn’t totally out of the question, either.
**********
Sports Cars & GT Racing: In the sports car racing world, Ford may be one of the best, particularly the Ford Mustang.
At the end of 2022, the Mustang won an award for having the most pole positions in the Supercars Championship.
The Ford GT races at specific events like 24 Hours of Le Mans for example. Since these series are based on purpose-built race cars, it is entirely possible Ford could give up on them and designate the cost savings to F1. these series.
At the same time, it wouldn't make sense for Ford to ditch its sports car and road racing program as these cars are not used week in and week out and the races usually have high prize pools.
**********
Offroad/Rally/Drifting: Ford's drift teams have already been on the decline, so a full exit would not be surprising.
Ford had a lot of success with Vaughn Gitten Jr. in the last few years, along with the addition of YouTuber Adam LZ to the empire. But the investment in drifting lately has been minor and it would not be surprising to see a shuffling out process for Ford as it redirects its energies and dollars to F1 more so.
In terms of offroad and rally racing, these are both smaller series that are important for Ford to be in. Having the Ford name in the sport may not help them sell cars as much as in other series like NASCAR and NHRA – although Truck sales can be directly correlated to offroad racing success -- but fans of the offroad and rally teams enjoy having Ford in their sport and are loyal consumers of their products.
Ford has been very successful in off-road, especially in 2022 with the new Ford Bronco going undefeated in its class. Ford is constantly developing new cars for these series – like the Bronco – so an exit or decline in investment seems highly unlikely at this time.
**********
So what will Ford's future potentially look like in light of Friday’s news? If the F1 investment works out as planned, and Ford wins championships and sells tons of EVs, then there is a potential that Ford wouldn't have to cut off involvement in any other series, as success in one series will likely extend to other series that carry the Blue Oval.
In fact, although in the current economic climate it’s very hard to predict, but if things go swimmingly from both a competitive and sales standpoint once Ford rejoins the F1 community, the company could ultimately and potentially wind up investing even MORE in their overall motorsports program as a result.
There is no doubt that in the next three years leading up to the 2026 debut, Ford will focus on the F1 project. The big question for them would be if they can put 100% into F1 and still keep their other series at a top level.
And what happens once Ford is back on-track in F1? What if it becomes an immediate or near-immediate success? Or worse, what if it ultimately flops? How would either of those scenarios impact other forms of racing that carry the Blue Oval? Only time will tell.