Rushbrook: Ford employees will work for Red Bull

It was officially confirmed on Friday that the American concern Ford will return to Formula 1 in 2026 as a strategic partner in the field of engine construction of Red Bull Racing. At first glance, this is a long way off, but, as Christian Horner said at the New York presentation, by the standards of sitters, it will happen tomorrow.

Ford was represented by Chairman Bill Ford and President Jim Farley during the announcement of the future partnership and at the presentation ceremony, but Mark Rushbrook, head of Ford Performance Motorsports, addressed the press behind the scenes and shared some information about how the American made the side. is represented by a partnership with Red Bull.

“In Milton Keynes, where the Red Bull production complex is located, a great foundation has been laid and construction is already underway on the building where the power plants will be assembled, where the test benches are located,” RacingNews365 quoted Rushbrook as saying. . – It is envisaged that this will become a basic element of the power plant production programme. At the same time, it is important to establish full cooperation with the racing team so that the process of creating a car and getting it race-ready can be optimized.

Ford Motor Company resources can be fully involved in this process, and this will be an additional beneficial factor. We immediately decided in which areas we will work – this is, of course, the technology for the production of batteries, electric motors and the development of control software. In particular, we are talking about optimizing the analysis processes of the operation of the power plant and the machine as a whole.

Through this collaboration, we also hope to gain a deeper knowledge of aerodynamics, which can then be applied to the production of our production cars, and gain access to certain processes and tools available to the team.

If we talk about the personnel issue, then of course the employees of our division work in the Red Bull team. Ford Performance Motorsports is an international team, we have people in the US, UK and Europe dedicated to our global motorsports programs and the team is constantly growing.

The collaboration with Red Bill will also be part of this program. Of course we expect our employees to be permanent in Milton Keynes, but not at this stage of our project. We are now resolving all the questions about who it will be, when it will happen and how it will be organised, but we have already decided in which areas we want to enter into close cooperation.”