As Formula 1’s 2026 season approaches, a rivalry is already developing between two American carmakers entering the sport. Ford, which is partnering with Red Bull Powertrains on 2026 engines, has strongly pushed back at comments from Cadillac’s F1 team that downplayed Ford’s involvement.
Cadillac suggested Ford’s role was mainly a marketing deal with little real technical impact, while GM is deeply involved in building its own team.
Ford executives called those claims “patently absurd” and defended their technical contribution to Red Bull’s power unit programme.
Bill Ford and other team leaders insisted their partnership is a serious engineering effort, not just branding, and pointed out that Cadillac will start in the championship using Ferrari engines before developing its own power units.