Ford sports director Mark Rushbrook has announced in a blog post when the two Formula 1 teams Racing Bulls and Red Bull want to present their vehicle designs for 2026 – as part of a major motorsport presentation at Ford in Detroit on January 15th.
According to Rushbrook, this is a premiere: “Red Bull is presenting its two Formula 1 teams in a single event for the first time.”
However, Rushbrook is overlooking the Formula 1 presentation “F1 75” at the beginning of the 2025 season, when all ten teams presented themselves at an evening event in London – one after the other on the same stage.
There is still a premiere
The presentation in Detroit is still a premiere: It marks the start of the new partnership between Ford and Red Bull, which is cooperating on the development of the new Formula 1 drive for 2026. The now announced event is the first highlight of the collaboration, says Rushbrook.
But anyone expecting a real vehicle presentation will be disappointed: According to Rushbrook, Racing Bulls and Red Bulls are only presenting the colors of their vehicles, not the new vehicles. So you’ll probably see the current VCARB 02 and the RB21 in their 2026 designs on January 15th.
But there should be at least one real presentation: the first joint Formula 1 drive from Ford and Red Bull – the “heart of Ford’s return to the ‘premier class’ after 22 years,” says Rushbrook. He says: “The technical challenge has never been greater. Our team is working day and night on preparations for 2026.”
The Ford partnership began in 2023
And this has been the case for years: Ford and Red Bull sealed their technical cooperation in the spring of 2023 after negotiations between Red Bull and Porsche failed. From 2026, both Red Bull and Racing Bulls will use the new powertrains, most of which were developed in a newly built engine factory in Milton Keynes, England.
Ford brought its expertise in combustion engines and electrical components to the partnership and also supported Red Bull in software issues. For Red Bull, it is the first self-developed drive, meaning that the energy drink company appears as a fully-fledged manufacturer in Formula 1: Racing Bulls and Red Bull are no longer customer teams, but factory teams.
When the contract was signed in 2023, then Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was already dreaming of a “dynasty” in Formula 1 – and raved about Ford’s motorsport history, which was shaped by drivers like Jim Clark, Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher. “This history speaks for itself,” Horner said. Ford and the Red Bull teams want to continue this in 2026.
The Ford presentation on January 15th will be followed by the first test drives with the new Formula 1 cars from January 26th, 2026. There are a total of three test weeks in Barcelona (Spain) and Sachir (Bahrain). Only the first week of testing takes place behind closed doors from the public and media.