Brabham F1 back in Formula One: 'Would I like to see that? Absolutely'

David Brabham, son of the legendary former world champion and himself active in Formula 1 for two years, has to laugh. "As a brand, we've been approached many times in the past", said the Australian during an exclusive interview with GPblog. "People coming to us and saying we're going to buy a Formula One team, we're going to need a name, can we talk? I'm going to say, go back 10 years, we've had multiple approaches, and you get quite excited at first, you know, it's like, wow, okay, this could be a really cool project and then of course when it came to the money, it never happened."

A lot of dreamers

He continues: "So, soon you learn to say, 'So, you quickly learned to say, you know, great, happy to sit and talk to us, but once you bought the team and your proof of funds then we'll chat and that put a stop to a lot of the conversations because there are a lot of dreamers out there that think they can do this and, and it's clearly a very difficult task." 

Never say never is Brabham's message nevertheless. "Would I like to see Brabham in Formula One? Absolutely. Are there current talks? No, not really. It's (a return) gotta be with the right level of investment and partners, resources to see if we get, if we ended up doing it, it would have to be done properly. It can't be done like I've experienced before when I was with Brabham F1. I hit them right at the wrong time and the financial crisis hit in the late eighties, early nineties, they'd run out of money before we even got started."

In 1994, Brabham drove his second season in Formula 1, having previously raced for Brabham F1 so Simtek was a low-budget team, which folded early in its second season. "So that's definitely not going to happen again with the Brabham name in Formula One", says Brabham.

It used to be easier

Meanwhile, the FIA has opened registration for new Formula One teams. Andretti-Cadillac is one of the candidates, but the American team has a lot of work to do before joining the grid is a reality. "I think it was probably easier back then. We were a small team, not a lot of money. But we could get on the grid. The world of Formula One has changed so much since those early 90 days, the level was so much higher."

"Formula One itself has gone up and up and up every year. Where it sits now for any new team coming in has got a massive task, not only to get an entry, that in itself is a big thing. Obviously, we watch from the sidelines, and we are not involved in any of those type of discussions, but you know, Andretti have been very vocal about getting into Formula One, which obviously would be great to see, but of course, you know, Formula One aren't that keen on diluting what they've got. I think you see a political battle between the FIA and F1 at the moment, a bit of a power struggle, and that will have an effect."

A lot of fuss in the background

Brabham foresees interesting times. "There's a change happening and, like any change in that size of thing, you'd have to say, it's going to be some bumps in the road and some challenges for people to get through and work out. Andretti have now got General Motors on board, which is a significant thing for any entrance to have a manufacturer involved, particularly for a privateer like Andretti."

"You do need something like that to be able to even enter, but then if you're starting up a fresh as a team, and you've entered that's a difficult, that's a big challenge. It's a great challenge, but it's going to be pretty messy in the background for a while before it settles down where the team will operate at the level it needs to operate to compete properly. It’ll take several years, it is a long-term project."

Perfect picture for Ford

Ford will return to Formula 1 in 2026 anyway, as a partner of Red Bull Racing. Brabham has worked with Ford himself and has also seen how difficult the American manufacturer struggled in the last period in F1. "I think this is quite a different situation for Ford", David Brabham believes. "Red Bull are the other team at the moment joining resources in a way that, let's say, will be probably more dictated and suited to Red Bull than it will be for Ford, but I think Ford would be happy for the way in which Formula One is done today. They have not done it for a while. They don't have that experience with the current people that they have. Yes they were involved in the past, but there's a lot of people, these will be new people, you know, in management roles that haven't got that experience."

"So they'll be keen as mustard to get involved in that to learn about how Formula One is managed from a Red Bull perspective and to see how that can be best supported with the resources that Ford have. So I think it's a perfect environment for someone like a Red Bull to have someone like Ford in a way the relationship can work", Brabham said.