Ford not considering F1 entry

Ford's Motorsport boss Mark Rushbrook has ruled out the possibility of the American manufacturer entering Formula One at the moment as the costs are simply too high, with their last venture into competition in the sport coming back in 2004 with Jaguar using their engines.

Ford left before the 2005 campaign and subsequently sold their Cosworth branch.

Formula One is motorsport's premier single seat competition, but the costs remain high if a team wishes to compete for championships against the likes of Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull.

It remains an intriguing prospect for Ford, however, due to the use of hybrid engines even if the finances aren't currently available to enter.

“Hybrid power will be relevant for a long time for Ford, especially if it introduces budgets,” he told Autocar.

"Cost reduction in F1 is all relative. If you cap in one area, [manufacturers] will spend in another”.

Ford motorsport's primary focus is on the World Endurance Championships and the WRC, and will continue their efforts alongside M-Sport to retain the driver's and constructor's championships.

“Specifically for WRC, there’s now more financial commitment but also more technical support from us. For 2018, we can help with more technical analysis of the car’s engine and look at its flow and combustion to improve performance,” Rushbrook added.

“A lot of the hardware we use in the WRC we can also use on road cars, so by testing them in this hard competition environment [in which it faces stiff opposition from Citroen, Hyundai and Toyota], it stresses them to far greater levels than on a road car. It’s very useful data.”