Ford Performance director Mark Rushbrook has outlined the manufacturer\u2019s total commitment to Red Bull, insisting it will not leave if Max Verstappen joins another F1 team.<\/p>\n
Ford is offering the Austrian outfit technical support as part of a new partnership ahead of Formula 1\u2019s new power unit regulations, which have seen Red Bull become an engine supplier.<\/p>\n
It is a job of immense difficulty for Red Bull, with 2026 marking its first season producing its own power units.<\/p>\n
Given the challenge of developing a competitive power unit, there are several questions over how strong Red Bull will be, due to its inexperience in engine development.<\/p>\n
Crucially, it has Verstappen to lead the team, with the Dutchman having chosen to stick with Red Bull for 2026 rather than move elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Discussing Verstappen, Rushbrook told Motorsport.com’s Italian branch: “He’s a generational talent. Having a champion behind the wheel with a Red Bull-Ford power unit is important, right?<\/p>\n
“We believe in the team, we believe in the power unit, and we believe in the people who design the car.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“But ultimately, it’s the driver who has to extract every ounce of performance. And we believe Max is a champion.”<\/p>\n
Keeping Verstappen, at least for this year, is significant for Red Bull, which can expect strong results even if it does not provide the four-time world champion with a competitive car.<\/p>\n
Verstappen\u2019s talent will drive Red Bull and Ford forward; however, Rushbrook has stressed that the 28-year-old is not the be-all and end-all for them.<\/p>\n
Addressing how Ford’s commitment will not be tied to one driver, Rushbrook explained: “Max is an important part of the team, but not to the point where we’re saying, ‘If he leaves the team, then we’re leaving too.’\u00a0<\/p>\n
“No, we have faith in the team and know that other drivers will arrive in the future.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ford Performance director Mark Rushbrook has outlined the manufacturer\u2019s total commitment to Red Bull, insisting it will not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,827,830,828,831,829,826,813,823,825,806,805,824,803,804,822,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-409894","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-daniel-ricciardo","11":"tag-f1-calendar","12":"tag-f1-live","13":"tag-f1-results","14":"tag-f1-standings","15":"tag-ferrari","16":"tag-formula-1","17":"tag-lewis-hamilton","18":"tag-max-verstappen","19":"tag-motor","20":"tag-motor-sports","21":"tag-motorsport","22":"tag-motosport","23":"tag-motosports","24":"tag-racing","25":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}