Otmar Szafnauer has a history with Ford, which is now preparing to re-enter F1 with Red Bull. The American shed light on the possible risks that Ford’s entry into the open-wheel category could bring.
Ford has a long history in F1, which did not end well with its partnership with the Jaguar team. Otmar Szafnauer believes it is crucial that the people who witnessed that failed project are still with the team to teach new generations what they should not repeat.
Now, the American car manufacturer is ready to return to the category, hoping for a more glorious evolution of the story. It will play a key role in Red Bull’s performance, which will have to produce its own power units from 2026 and has decided to rely on Ford.
Otmar Szafnauer has expressed optimism about this new F1 entry. “Ford is a huge and very capable company, and it’s been racing for a long time, even in Formula 1. They owned their own team, were engine suppliers, and for a time they owned Cosworth,” he said, referring to the British company that develops and produces competition car engines.
However, the engineer kept his feet on the ground and tempered the enthusiasm, as he has experience working at Ford and knows how things work within the team.
“Red Bull is finding a very competent and capable partner. Looking at my experience, I quickly learned what worked at Ford and would also work in Formula 1, and what I had to apply. But there are other things that would work well at Ford but wouldn’t work well in F1; in fact, they would slow them down.”
Otmar Szafnauer concluded by giving some advice to the F1 team. “You don’t do those things, and you have to have experience from both sides to say ‘Yes, this would be useful’ and ‘No, it won’t be.’ If you mix these two things, you could get into trouble. If you don’t mix them, then it’s fantastic.”
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