Red Bull 2023 car reveal: What will the partnership with Ford bring to the table?

Red Bull has officially announced a technical partnership with Ford at their RB19 launch in New York for the 2026 season and beyond. The American automotive giant will have a technical partnership with Milton Keynes' engine division be where they will be developing their engines and supplying them with hybrid technology and batteries.

Speaking to Racer magazine, Global director of Ford Performance Motorsports, Mark Rushbrook, said:

“The foundation of the Red Bull Racing team and Red Bull Ford Powertrains is in Milton Keynes. It’s really good seeing on that campus the very focused effort, because to put the best race car on the track and two in, you’ve got to have the best total car with the power unit integrated as part of it. So that all needs to live together.”

From Rushbrook’s explanation, it is understood that Ford will operate from the Red Bull campus in Milton Keynes itself. The partnership will involve the American giant developing units for the factory team and its sister team AlphaTauri for the 2026 season until 2030.

At the RB19 launch the Milton Keynes team also unveiled their logo for their power train division, which will feature the Ford badging. The American giant will be contributing its support by providing the reigning champions with hybrid technology and battery support which will be developed at their new Red Bull powertrain facility.

Explaining the partnership in detail, the Ford Performance Motorsport press release said:

“Ford will provide technical expertise in all areas where it can add value to the front-running World Championship team. Areas to be explored together are in the combustion engine development and key developments like battery cell and electric motor technology, power unit control software and analytics.”

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Ford will use Red Bull powertrain's existing facility in Milton Keynes for development

According to Ford’s announcement, they will be working on 2026 power units and powertrains starting from 2023 itself at Red Bull’s Milton Keynes facility.

Mark Rushbrook explained that they will be using the RBPT facility with people working in the UK, along with global support from their own facilities and resources from the US, Europe and Australia.

“What they already had in plans in terms of the new building for the powertrains team, new dynos, test infrastructure there – that’s the right place to keep the focal point, physically.

"Certainly we have significant global resources that can contribute to that, so where it makes sense to do work and testing in other parts of the world using our resources, we will use those. The people focus will also be in Milton Keynes but supported with our global team that we also have.

"We’ve got people in the United States, in Europe and in Australia supporting all of our racing programs. That will continue, and we’ll ultimately have some people on-site in Milton Keynes as part of the power unit development.”

Ford's official announcement highlighted the duration of the partnership, saying:

"Starting from 2023, Ford and Red Bull Powertrains will work to develop the power unit that will be part of the new technical regulations, including a 350kW electric motor and a new combustion engine able to accept fully sustainable fuels, ready for the 2026 season."

In short, their technical partnership at the moment is with the Red Bull powertrains division as the team will continue to carry on their Honda badging until the 2026 season.

With the growing popularity of the sport in the US, the American automotive giant’s return to F1 after two decades is a milestone in the history of the sport. While Porsche failed to manage an OEM partnership with the Milton Keynes team, Ford was able to fall through with a historical technical partnership.