Ford has announced plans to return to the Formula 1 World Championship two decades after exiting the race series. The announcement follows news of Cadillac’s new bid to join the series in partnership with Andretti Global, however, the way in which Ford is approaching F1 is completely different from that of Cadillac and GM.
For those readers who may have missed it, GM and Andretti Global announced a new partnership earlier this year in a bid to compete in the Formula 1 championship under the Cadillac banner, with the Andretti team based in the U.S. with backing from a facility in the U.K. GM and Andretti previously worked together in 2012 for Chevy’s return to the NTT IndyCar Series, a partnership that yielded nine wins over the span of two seasons, as well as Driver, Team, and Manufacturer titles in 2012.
Now, GM’s crosstown rival, Ford, has announced F1 ambitions of its own, although the Blue Oval brand’s approach differs significantly from that of GM and Cadillac. According to a report from Detroit Free Press, Ford interviewed nearly the entirety of the current F1 racing team roster to identify a partner, with the intention of providing hybrid power unit technology for competition use. Ford finally settled on partnering with Oracle Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri, and will develop a new hybrid power unit alongside Red Bull Powertrains, with Ford leveraging its battery cell and electric motor expertise to provide engines to both teams from 2026, to at least 2030. The move coincides with F1’s plans to pivot to sustainable fuels, with hybrid powertrains continuing to form the basis for the competition engines as further electrification looms.
Ford’s last season in the F1 series was in 2004 with Jaguar Racing, finishing 7th for the season with Mark Webber and Christian Klein as drivers.
Meanwhile, the Cadillac-Andretti partnership has been met with some pushback, including a negative reaction from rival F1 teams.
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Comments
Maybe gm is going to invest in F1 and leave NASCAR when Camaro goes away? The old saying,’If you want to make a little money in auto racing, start with a lot’, comes to mind.
GM is not leaving NASCAR and from all intents the Camaro as we know it may be going away but the name may stay.
GM has the work going into a Camaro coupe for Lemans right now so they have some plans in place to take the next NASCAR based model global if they can get a new class in place.