Ford all set to launch Red Bull takeover

Ford are beefing up their involvement in Formula 1 before even making their return to the sport with Red Bull in 2026.

It was only back in 2023 that a commercial agreement was put in place with Red Bull to sponsor their engine programme ahead of the big rules revamp next season.

But in recent times, that agreement that initially was just to plaster their name on the Red Bull to replace Honda, has now been changed to include focusing on helping to work with the team on developing a power unit.

This is where it gets interesting, because in F1, there have been similar examples of when the big car companies start ramping up their involvement, a full scale takeover is not too far off. Let's not forget, Ford have admitted before their deal with Red Bull they were considering a full return.

Familiar tales

Think Renault in 2001. One year they were dipping their toes in the water after returning to supply engines to Benetton, the next - bosh - welcome to the Renault team.

Think Honda in the early 2000s. They went from supplying engines to Jordan and BAR and when the former showed little interest in a sale, it was soon muscling its way into the latter to make a full factory return in 2006.

Or maybe even BMW. Fed up of having the best engine in F1 stuck in a Williams from 2000 to 2005 with no sign of forcing a takeover, they upped sticks and bulldozed their way into Sauber instead.

Mercedes were long-time engine suppliers of McLaren but once the opportunity to run a team fell into their lap following the Honda withdrawal and Brawn revival in late 2009, they didn't mess about before then starting their domination with Lewis Hamilton for the majority of the 2010s.

Ford have done this before with Jaguar

You can even throw Ford in there. After three years of helping supply engines to Sir Jackie Stewart's eponymous team, they took it over and slapped a big Jaguar logo on it... albeit it with hilarious results. Ironically, it was Red Bull buying the team out that prevented it from completing a downward spiral ahead of the 2005 season, leading to a fresh-faced Christian Horner coming in as team principal - and the rest is history.

Now, 20 years on - that energetic Red Bull team that started in the mid-2000s is today a seemingly crumbling mess with no signs of improvement. It's not happened slowly though, it's been almost overnight. Two years ago, Max Verstappen was winning every race with one of the most experienced and highly talented teams behind the scenes. Today, nearly every trace of that has gone.

Horner, in case you were living under a rock, was sacked in July. Huge pitwall and technical figures such as Adrian Newey, Johnathan Wheatley and Rob Marshall have departed, and it appears only a Verstappen bandaid is keeping the whole operation together. Otherwise there is large evidence that the once dominant Red Bull car that was the best in the world is now not even the best in the company given how Verstappen aside, the Racing Bulls team seem to have an edge on whoever is sitting in that troublesome second Red Bull seat.

The Red Bull team have never looked so lost and directionless. It's arguably the worst it's ever been. Their first four years may have been largely spent in the midfield but there were always signs that it was only going to improve once Newey got his hands on some new regs to work his magic.

What is Ford's F1 history?

Ford have a long, rich history in F1 that dates back decades. It was Ford power that won Michael Schumacher his first world championship in 1994 and it was their DFV engine that changed grand prix racing forever back in the late 1960s, becoming a race-winning machine for nearly the next 20 years.

It's remarkable that Ford have been away as long as they have. But like many manufacturers before them, a full Ford entry could be a tempting prospect in the near future. Given they have their foot already inside a team that appear on a decline - opportunity knocks and they really are now set in place to make a famous return with a bid to take over an incredibly stale Red Bull.

Red Bull of course have shown no sign of selling up and such a prospect won't even have been considered given the huge unknown of the 2026 season and how the effective reset could kickstart their own revival. Even now though, the early suggestions are the Red Bull power unit following Honda's withdrawal looks a little undercooked, and paddock rumours are suggesting it is Mercedes who have an early lead on the 2026 regs.

And that of course would only incentivise a full scale Ford takeover. Let's just hope they learned a lot from their last experiment in 2000 and don't just whack a big cat logo on an awesome looking British racing green car and think it's job done.

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