Ford says its Red Bull F1 project isn’t held hostage by Max Verstappen
Ford has a clear message as Formula 1 hurtles toward its 2026 rules reset: the company is here to win with Red Bull, whether Max Verstappen is in the car or not.
Mark Rushbrook, Ford’s global motorsport boss, has doubled down on the manufacturer’s long‑term commitment alongside Red Bull Powertrains, pushing back on the idea that Verstappen’s presence is a condition of their involvement.
“He is a generational talent,” Rushbrook told Motorsport.com. “To have a champion in the car with a Red Bull Ford power unit is important, right? We believe in the team, we believe in the power unit, and we believe in the people that are designing the car. But at the end of the day, it comes down to the driver to get every single ounce out of it. And we believe Max is a champion.
“Max is an important part, but it’s not to the point where we would say, ‘Oh, if he’s gone from the team, we are too’. No, we know that we have confidence in the team and that we’ll get other drivers in the future.”
The timing matters. Red Bull’s trophy-hoarding partnership with Honda is over; from 2026 the team becomes an engine manufacturer in its own right, paired with Ford as the new era of chassis and power unit regulations lands. Before that arrives, a closed-door test window is pencilled for Barcelona from January 26–30 — the first real sniff of how the sharp end might look under the biggest technical shift the sport has seen in decades.
Verstappen, who won six of the final nine races in 2025 and missed a fifth straight title by just two points, will again be the gravitational centre of the story. He’s contracted with Red Bull through 2028, but a performance-related release clause dominated the rumour mill last summer and didn’t exactly die off with the chequered flag. If Red Bull-Ford launches hot in ’26, the noise fades. If they stumble, the Mercedes whispers return.
Rushbrook isn’t pretending the task is small. “We want to win no matter what,” he said, while acknowledging 2026 will be “a challenging year for everybody in the paddock” given the scale of change. And crucially, he insists the company’s resolve won’t wobble if early results are bruising. “We want to be at the front of the grid no matter what. We know it’s a massive challenge with the all-new power unit, but that’s our intention. And if we’re not, we’re still committed to doing everything that we can to get to where we want to be.”
Verstappen, for his part, has stepped into the Red Bull Powertrains world more than once. He’s been through the Milton Keynes facility several times and, according to Rushbrook, that matters. “It’s great for the team to see his interest and to have him there. Showing that he cares matters, for sure. It’s great that he’s got that interest and at the same time he can get confidence in what the team is delivering for 2026.” Max even gave the early Ford-badged unit his seal of approval on the acoustics — “crisp,” as he put it.
The Dutchman hardly needed another title to underline his stock in 2025. He topped end‑of‑year rankings from both team principals and fellow drivers, and even Helmut Marko — no longer in his old Red Bull role — reckoned this might have been Verstappen’s toughest season yet. The take was classic Marko: “We’ve had so many ups and downs, but he delivered unbelievable races… He never gave up and he doesn’t make a mistake. It is like a Swiss watch. Within one tenth he does 20, 30 laps.”
All of which circles back to the real pressure point. Keeping Verstappen happy in 2026 isn’t about sentiment; it’s about pace. If the Red Bull-Ford package hits the ground running, the championship picture looks very familiar. If it doesn’t, the marketplace gets lively.
There will be new dynamics at Milton Keynes, too. Isack Hadjar steps up from Racing Bulls to partner Verstappen for 2026 after an eye-catching rookie campaign. It’s a big bet on youth for a season when experience might be worth lap time, and it tells you Red Bull believes its car-and-engine platform will carry the day.
Ford’s stance cuts through the speculation. This isn’t a star-chaser deal. It’s a manufacturer arriving at the most volatile point on the calendar with a simple brief: build a winner. Whether the driver in the number one car is the one currently wearing it almost feels like a subplot. Almost. Because in the cold light of a lap time delta, nothing keeps a generational talent in your camp like giving him the fastest thing in town.
