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Ford Performance’s Global Director, Mark Rushbrook is delighted with his company’s new partnership with Red Bull as American manufacturer increases input.
Of course, those of a certain vintage will recall the American giant’s main contribution to F1, namely the underwriting of Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth’s project that was to dominate the sport from the late 60s, 70s and early 80s, powering numerous title winning drivers and constructors, the Cosworth DFV.
Now, the Blue Oval is returning to the ‘pinnacle of motorsport’, seemingly enticed, like Audi and GM, by F1’s sustainability drive.
In 2026, Red Bull Power Trains will provide Red Bull and Racing Bulls with engines as Honda partners with Aston Martin, and, as announced two years ago, Ford is on board.
While it is not known precisely what the American giant’s involvement will be, Rushbrook is delighted with the way things are progressing.
“The partnership is actually getting stronger every day,” he tells Motorsport.com, “from the first talks and the moment the contract was signed, although the work had already started before then.
“We are contributing in different areas,” he adds. “In a general sense, we are on track with our timeline for the ICE and the electrical components.
“Of course, there is still a lot of work to do and we still have a lot to prove in terms of durability, but in terms of cooperation, the openness, trust and contribution from both sides, has been excellent so far. It has been everything we had hoped for and actually even more than expected.”
Indeed, he says that such is increasing bond Ford is increasing its involvement.
“Initially, the focus was on electrification,” says Rushbrook. “But with our advanced manufacturing facility and our printing machines, we can make things in real time.
“We literally make things every day that come out of Dearborn, get shipped and tested in the lab in Milton Keynes.
“It tests our people, our processes and our facilities,” he adds. “It pushes us to do things we have never done before, even in other motorsport programmes.”
In many ways, both are new to this, Red Bull never having built its own engines before and Ford having little experience of this type of hybrid engine.
“The project has indeed been built from scratch,” he says, “but with people who already have a lot of experience in Formula 1. “And yes, a lot of people with little experience have joined as well,” he adds, “but everyone in our team is a racer and is used to working at high speed.
“When you see people around you working faster, you speed up yourself and adapt to that speed. That has happened with our team too.”
Asked about targets, he admits that along the way there have been a few issues, but nothing significant.
“There are always exceptions because you can never achieve everything 100 per cent,” he says. “But when it comes to meeting the power numbers, then absolutely. Then it’s all about the reliability tests to match that. In doing so, do you get everything perfectly? No, but that is the reality of any programme.
“That just happens along the way and then it’s about how you react, in terms of urgency and in terms of people’s mind-set. So we react to what we see.”
