Rumours are nonsense: Ford will still be Red Bull Racing's engine partner
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- Ludo van Denderen
A leaked letter from Jim Farley - the CEO of Ford - to Red Bull a week ago seemed to put a lot of pressure on the relationship between the car manufacturer and the energy drink company. In the letter, the American wrote that he was unhappy with the way Red Bull allowed the Christian Horner affair to simmer down as well as the lack of transparency shown to Ford. Meanwhile, rumours are circulating - especially in German media - that Ford wants to dissolve the contract with Red Bull Racing. Is the partnership already on the verge of breaking down?
A year ago, Red Bull Racing and Ford announced that they will work together from 2026. Thus, the power units will be branded as Ford and, in addition, the company will deal with the engine's electrical components and electronics. There were plenty of happy faces at the presentation and both Ford and Red Bull reported at the time that they were very much looking forward to the collaboration.
Ford would reconsider cooperation
After Christian Horner was accused of inappropriate behaviour - and has since been cleared of it - there seemed to be a crack in the relationship between Ford and Red Bull. The Americans also openly did not respond to the outcome of Red Bull's internal investigation. And so now stories are circulating that Ford are looking internally at whether they can get out of the deal with the Austrians.
GPblog can say with clarity, however, that all these rumours are false. Ford has no intention whatsoever of breaking the deal with Red Bull. Preparations for the '26 season are of course in full swing, and Ford and Red Bull will continue to work on a power unit for the season in which F1 regulations will be completely overhauled.