Brundle on Red Bull and Ford: "This is a deluxe sponsorship deal"

The unveiling of the Red Bull livery for 2023 was accompanied by the announcement that Max Verstappen's team will partner with Ford to develop the 2026 engine. Red Bull Powertrains will go by the name Red Bull Ford from then on. Exactly what the collaboration will look like is unclear at the moment, but it seems likely that Ford will mainly be involved in the electric side of the engine.

Brundle mainly sees a creative marketing ploy in the collaboration. "This is a sponsorship plus with Ford," the analyst summarizes. "they said they will get involved with the technology and it's a way of Red Bull being able to badge the engine. This is a branding thing."

'It shows the power of the sport'

For Brundle, it is mainly a sign that Formula 1 is still really the top of motorsport after all. "What I find most interesting is, all of the world's car manufacturers are totally focused on electric cars," Brundle begins. "EVs coming up. And yet, if you look at the Ford announcement today, they love the idea of the technology, sustainability, sustainable fuels, and then basically eyeballs. The number of people that are watching Formula 1 now that are not watching other Formula with just battery power for example. It's interesting that they even want to be involved in Formula 1 at the moment. It's the might that it has at the moment."