F1
The Blue Oval is Back
Oracle Red Bull Racing’s partnership with Ford brings one of Formula One’s most successful manufacturers back to the top level of racing. But how big has the Blue Oval’s impact been in the sport?
Summary
- 1Power Shift: F1’s Engine Revolution in 1966
- 2Enter Cosworth: Engineering Meets Opportunity
- 3Opening the Gates: DFV Goes Global
- 4Total Dominance: The DFV Era in Full Swing
- 5Challengers Emerge: The Turbo Era Begins
- 6Schumacher’s Breakthrough: A 1990s Resurgence
- 7A New Chapter Begins: Red Bull Racing is Born
Well, how about 174 Grand Prix wins, 10 Constructors’ titles and 13 Drivers’ titles, with the bulk of those wins coming in a 15-year spell. Ford’s F1 history is a tale of inspiration, innovation and an unquenchable will to win...
01
Power Shift: F1’s Engine Revolution in 1966
Back at the tail end of 1966, if you were an F1 constructor hammering together next year’s chassis in a dimly lit lock-up garage, you were faced with a bewildering array of engines to bolt into the back of your car.
With F1 cars struggling to match the power of rival sports cars, the FIA took the decision ahead of 1966 to move away from the tiny 1.5 litre powerplants in use since 1961 and replace them with either 3.0-litre naturally aspirated engines or 1.5-litre supercharged or turbocharged units. The shift heralded a year of uncertainty as manufacturers scrambled to define the best way forward.
All were used in 1966 with wildly varying degrees of reliability and success. So much so that as 1967 approached, teams were on the hunt for something new, something light, quick, and most importantly, reliable. At the top of that list at the time was Lotus.
Chapman was an F1 innovator
© Bob Harmeyer/Archive Photos/Getty Images
Colin Chapman’s team had enjoyed huge success with engines from Coventry Climax but with the supplier backing away from development of a new 3.0 litre F1 engine, Chapman needed a new supply. He called in former Lotus gearbox technician Keith Duckworth whose fledgling Cosworth engine manufacture business with partner Mike Costin was beginning to find its feet.
02
Enter Cosworth: Engineering Meets Opportunity
Seeking backing for the costly project, the pair approached Ford, and with Detroit funding the project – and eventually acquiring the design – development of a technically advanced, lightweight, four-valve per cylinder, V8 engine began.
The DFV (Double Four Valve) arrived in time for the third race of the 1967 season, the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, where Graham Hill put the Lotus 49 on Pole by half a second. His DFV suffered a catastrophic failure after just 11 laps of the race, but team-mate Jim Clark roared through the pack to win with almost 24 seconds in hand over the Brabham/Repco of Jack Brabham.
03
Opening the Gates: DFV Goes Global
At the end of 1967, and despite Chapman’s understandably furious protestations, Ford decided to make the DFV available to other customers. F1 would never be the same.
In 1968, the DFV was not only bolted into the Lotus but also into Bruce McLaren and Dan Gurney’s McLaren M7A cars, into the Matras of Jackie Stewart and Johnny Servoz Gavin and into the Rob Walker Lotus 49 of Jo Siffert. Lotus Ford won both Driver’s Championships, with Graham Hill taking home the trophy, and the Constructor’s Championship. In addition, both Matra and McLaren took Ford-powered wins.
04
Total Dominance: The DFV Era in Full Swing
F1 follows performance, and by the following year almost two thirds of the cars entered were powered by DFVs, and the engine powered drivers to victory in all 11 of that season’s races. The Constructors’ Championship went to Matra with Brabham second ahead of Lotus and McLaren. All four teams were powered by Ford.
The pattern continued throughout the following decade. In 1970, Ford took the legendary Jochen Rindt to F1’s only posthumous Drivers title win, while Lotus were Champions. In 1971 it was the turn of Tyrrell, with its star Jackie Stewart also picking up the Driver’s crown, and in 1972 the Drivers title went to Emerson Fittpaldi at the wheel of a Lotus-Ford.
Jochen Rindt
© Motorsport Images/Getty
By 1973 only Ferrari and BRM raced without Ford power and the Blue Oval was once again on the top step at every one of the 15 races. The Constructors' Championship went to Lotus Ford, with Ford-powered cars taking the top five positions.
05
Challengers Emerge: The Turbo Era Begins
The DFV’s winning ways lasted into the 1980s and were only halted by the arrival of F1’s first turbocharged era when engines from Renault, BMW and Honda temporarily ruled the roost. Naturally aspirated engines returned for 1987 and teams such as Tyrrell and Benetton ran with the new DFZ 3.5 V8, but with Honda-powered McLaren dominating, it wasn’t until 1989 that Ford returned to the top step of the podium, courtesy of Benetton’s Alessandro Nannini who won the Japanese Grand Prix.
Nannini sulla Benetton 1989
© [unknown]
06
Schumacher’s Breakthrough: A 1990s Resurgence
Wins would remain sporadic, however, and it wasn’t until 1993 that Ford once again became a major force, supplying McLaren and Benetton and winning six of that season’s 16 races. There was more to come and in 1994 Michael Schumacher won half of the races to take the Drivers’ title at the wheel of the Benetton Ford B194, though the team would miss out on the title to Renault-powered Williams.
The '94 Benetton was back in its element
© Pirelli
Michael Schumacher in the dominant Benetton B195
© Getty Images
It was to be the last real hurrah for Ford’s F1 engines for the time being. 1995 was a year of decline, although it did power Jos Verstappen in his Simtek Ford as well as a Sauber squad backed by a rapidly expanding Austrian energy drink company that was beginning to deepen its involvement in F1.
Simtek 1994
© LAT
While Ford would meet Red Bull again later in its journey, the Blue Oval’s next major involvement came as supplier to Stewart Grand Prix, founded by Jackie Stewart. A first win in five years came at the 1999 European Grand Prix when Johnny Herbert kept his cool on a wet and wild day to score the final win of his career and the Ford-powered squad finished fourth overall.
Johnny Herbert 1999
© LAT
Ford went all in in 2000 and after taking control of Stewart it rebranded the team as Jaguar. The endeavour was fraught with difficulty, however, and though Ford invested heavily, results proved hard to come by.
07
A New Chapter Begins: Red Bull Racing is Born
In the end, Ford’s most recent win in F1 came courtesy of the Jordan team, with Giancarlo Fisichella taking victory at a chaotic rain-lashed 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix. The following season would be Ford’s last season in F1 with Jaguar Racing, and with commitment wavering, the team was put up for sale. The deal to take over the squad was drawn out and complex but eventually, late in the year, Ford’s time as a Constructor in the sport came to an end. For the nominal sum of a single dollar, Dietrich Mateschitz took over the Milton Keynes factory and Red Bull Racing was born.
REBL ARTFCT #11
© Oracle Red Bull Racing
Twenty-one years later, the story comes full circle. Oracle Red Bull Racing are multiple champions at the forefront of the sport. Just as it was back in 1966, Ford are once again flat out in pursuit of racing glory, looking to add to that total of 176 wins. The partnership is one rich with F1 heritage and a shared sense of interlinked destiny. A new era beckons, and the Blue Oval and the sun and bulls are ready to power forward.