The Blue Oval might return to the Formula 1 grid.
A new report from Autosport says “the growth of grand prix racing, especially in the United States, is understood to have led to it evaluating options”.
The report says “there does not seem an eagerness for it to get involved in funding a full works team or producing its own power unit”, but Ford is considering working with Red Bull.
The 2022 Constructor’s Champion currently operates its own powertrain division with assistance from Honda, and will do so until 2026.
Although that means it could theoretically go without a carmaker as a partner from the 2026 season, Red Bull has already been linked to Porsche, and would no doubt benefit from either the money involved in a branding deal, or the technical assistance on offer from a large OEM.
“We are fully focused on a Red Bull power unit, and if there was a like-minded partner that could contribute something to the project, then of course you would have to absolutely consider that. But it’s not a prerequisite,” Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner said earlier this year, as reported by Autosport.
Ford does have pedigree in Formula 1, and has a link – albeit a tenuous one – to Red Bull Racing.
It supplied engines under the Ford name between 1963 and 1966, before pairing up with Cosworth to develop a line of engines that debuted in 1967.
Michael Schumacher won his first world championship in a Bennetton-Ford car powered by a Ford Zetec-R V8 engine.
Ford bought Stewart Grand Prix in June 1999, and created the Jaguar Formula 1 team. Although it was Jaguar-branded, the team used works Cosworth-Ford engines and featured no direct link to Jaguar through its engineering – it was, for all intents and purposes, and Ford factory operation.
Jaguar was bought by Red Bull racing in 2004.
