Red Bull pulled the wraps off its 2026 Formula One World Championship livery last night in Ford‘s hometown of Detroit. The entire Blue Oval family was present at the renovated Michigan Central Station to witness the dawn of its newest adventure, which will see the company compete in the world’s most complex and competitive form of motorsport. But amid all the fanfare, a story published by The Athletic earlier in the day brought a little rain on Ford’s parade.
Dan Towriss, the CEO of the Cadillac F1 Team, was quoted as saying that Ford’s partnership with Red Bull F1 was “a marketing deal with very minimal impact, while GM is an equity owner [in its F1 team].” He added that the “two deals [Cadillac and Ford’s] couldn’t be more different.”
During an interview with Ford CEO Jim Farley, Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies, and Ford Racing global director Mark Rushbrook, I asked Farley how he felt about Towriss’ comments. The displeasure was visible, and the room went quiet.
“All I will say is, it’s laughable. It’s not even worth discussing. It doesn’t merit a comment,” Farley told The Drive.
Mekies eventually grabbed the baton and elaborated on the extent of the partnership between the two racing powerhouses: “We partnered with someone who has amazing manufacturing capabilities to produce key parts and deliver the quality that Red Bull would not be able to reach. It’s all about how fast you are able to bring something to the track, and with Ford, we can develop things much faster. This is only the beginning. We truly feel that this is a people business, and we want to partner with the best people. You gotta look for the best talent, the best engineers, and now we are attached to a company that has 200,000 of the best people available.
“We want the best people in the world in each field, because that’s what we need if we even want to have any chance to win,” added the Red Bull boss.
Prior to my interaction with Farley and Mekies, I had spent the day with Ford Racing’s leadership to find out just how in-depth the partnership really is. Was it just stickers on a car, or was it a real technical collaboration in which knowledge, hardware, and personnel are shared between Detroit and Milton Keynes? You can read all about it here, including the interviews with Red Bull and Ford Racing’s powertrain bosses. Surprise, it ain’t just stickers on a car.
It’s also worth noting that Towriss’s point that GM is an equity owner in the team, and that GM’s and Ford’s F1 deals are completely different, is accurate. While Cadillac will race in 2026, 2027, and 2028 with a Ferrari engine, GM’s powertrain is expected to be ready by 2029, at which point it will become a full works team just like Ferrari and Mercedes. The bit that can now be debunked is that it’s merely a “marketing deal with minimal impact.”
After addressing other questions from the media, Farley circled back to my original question. In fact, he circled back multiple times over roughly 15 minutes, each time highlighting that Ford’s commitment to F1 goes beyond marketing.
“We’ve committed to a four-year partnership,” added Farley. “This is not our first rodeo in Formula 1. There is a lot of institutional memory at Ford Motor Company, in the pores of the concrete, in the walls. We made our decision with Red Bull, and they made their decision on who to partner with. This is the team we want to be with, this is exactly where we want to be. There is no other dream for us, other than to support Laurent [Mekies] and watch Mr. Ford be at the top step of the podium someday. We equally share the humility of being at the beginning of this journey to [design] a PU for a top F1 team.
“Every time I thought about the problems Ford had to solve to lead the market in aerodynamics, drivetrains, and more, the answer kept coming back: Formula 1, Formula 1, Formula 1. It became obvious that the best people were in Formula 1. And we’ve discovered this together over the last four years—emphasis on four years. This is where we need to be.”
As our meeting ended and I thanked the trio for their time, Farley looked at me and said, “Words are cheap.”
Email the author at jerry@thedrive.com