NEW YORK — Five years ago, all of this seemed impossible. Formula one broadcasts have just returned to the air on ESPN, Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” series is still a year away and the sport’s popularity in the US shows few signs. emerged from a decades-long slumber.
There was a four-year period when the only stop the series made in North America was Montreal. The opening of Circuit of the Americas in Austin in 2012 promised a lot, but attendance quickly dropped after initial excitement.
Now, when the aftershocks subsided after the news that Ford has signed a strategic partnership with Red Bull to develop power units ahead of the 2026 seasonThe enthusiasm for F1 in the US can also be fueled by energy drinks sponsoring the team.
Austin holds the sport’s three-day attendance record of 440,000, set in October. There are currently two other races in the United States, in Miami and Las Vegas, and a fifth stop on the continent in Mexico City. Heck, Ford is only the second American automaker to announce its intention to enter F1 in the past month.
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The first is General Motors, the company The Cadillac brand announced on New Year’s Day that it will partner with Andretti Autosport to create an “all-American” team. as early as 2026.
However, that news prompted a response from within the paddock. A senior figure in the group told Reuters last month that “the majority” of teams oppose network expansion and reduction in revenue rates.
“It’s all about the money,” says Andretti Forbes shortly after the F1 teams were indifferent to his statement of intent. “First, they thought they would be diluted 1/10 of the prize money, but they were also very greedy in thinking that we would also take all the American sponsors.
“It’s all about greed and looking at yourself and not at what’s best for the overall development of the series.”
There is some truth in it.
Should the revenue split of the teams determine whether the network should be expanded beyond the current 20 cars? The franchise model of the American cricket sport that F1 seems so keen to adopt would dictate that, yes, existing teams should have a big say in who is allowed to participate and who is not. But a look back at the past decades, when the grids regularly flirted with (and sometimes surpassed) the 30-car mark, shows that current teams should not be the arbiter of who deserves to join the club. — that has long been the job of accountants, and bankruptcy courts.
But there is also some truth in the teams’ opposition to Andretti-Cadillac’s proposal.
The same source in the Reuters report said GM’s involvement was more of a “fool exercise” than a full manufacturer commitment. Statements from project stakeholders appear to have legitimized the claim.
Andretti is quoted by sport car. GM President Mark Reuss added: “We signed an agreement with an electrical equipment supplier to get started, and then as we moved forward, we brought a wealth of expertise with us. my subject to create things for the future.”
Formula One has insisted that any new entry to the sport require manufacturer support, which has led Andretti to Cadillac, but “support” can mean a lot.
Sauber has the backing of Alfa Romeo, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything about a C42 successor originating from the Italian brand’s headquarters in Turin, save for paint colors. Audi is in the process of acquiring the heralded group ahead of the effort to finish work for 2026, producing its own parts and chassis.
If Andretti-Cadillac already has an agreement with an existing engine supplier, it is difficult to conclude that its effort is closer to Audi than to Alfa Romeo – even if Reuss got angry at that assessment. And that’s what brings us back to Ford.
Red Bull has produced its own power units. After Honda abruptly left Formula 1 after the 2021 season, the fledgling Red Bull Powertrain took over the Japanese manufacturer’s intellectual property until the end of the 2025 season. Red Bull spared no expense to build. programming, and it is not surprising that they have the ability to develop their own engines from 2026.
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Horner: Red Bull has gone from hunter to hunted
Christian Horner admits it will be difficult to repeat the success Red Bull has in the F1 2022 season.
The possibility is there. The institutional knowledge is there. So does finance, although developing a new energy unit from scratch would add hundreds of millions to the budget.
Like its rival on the other side of Detroit, Ford is adamant that its involvement goes beyond sponsorships and stickers. It claims that it will offer more than just funding and will lend its expertise in areas including battery and electric motor technology as well as power unit control software and distribution development. accumulate.
“We’ve really done our homework and we want to be realistic in our approach,” Ford President and CEO Jim Farley told ESPN on Friday in New York. “We don’t want to spend hundreds of millions of dollars doing an engine show or even more to own a team. What we have learned during our years in Formula One is that [Red Bull team principal] Christian [Horner]He was really good at what he did, and in ’26 we were able to help with batteries, motors and battery control software, and they could help us with aero.
“In the world of electronics, aero turns out to be the most leveraged technological possibility in a car company, because you can make batteries smaller if you have really good aero and no aero engineers. There’s no better place in the world than Formula One and at Red Bull. So it’s a real practical technology exchange.”
The Blue Oval also has a rich history of grand-prix races to call for, which is more than Cadillac and GM can say. Ford helped teams to 174 wins, 13 driver championships and 10 constructors championships between 1960 and 2004.
Those engines were, of course, designed and built by Cosworth, commissioned by Ford, until the Michigan marque bought Cosworth in 1998. The six years Ford actually owned Cosworth yielded only two of those victories. win that race.
Ford’s statement offers some optimism that its partnership with Red Bull will be more substantive than much of its relationship with Cosworth or GM’s plans with Andretti. Still, that history is reason enough to use a healthy dose of skepticism.
As the popularity of F1 in this country continues to soar, there is a race to attract American fans, American sponsors and the amount of US dollars each has to spend. It would be a shame to see the two biggest U.S. automakers spoil those audiences, promising engineering feats only to deliver the wonders their marketing teams have to offer. dream.
Having Formula 1 teams powered by Ford and Cadillac would be just dessert for an iconic piece of American car culture that was largely forgotten as the series left the country behind. Let’s hope Red Bull and Andretti deliver it.
