At a glitzy New York launch, TG interviewed the key people involved in the Blue Oval’s return to Formula One
Ford is thus joining Formula One once more. There were undoubtedly a few people who were old enough to remember the company’s previous two forays into the sport among the influencers and young, Netflix-loving Formula One fans who flocked to Friday’s simultaneous Red Bull Racing launch and Ford announcement in New York. Forget about the 155 Grand Prix victories, 12 Drivers’ Championships, and 10 Constructors’ Championships the Ford-Cosworth DFV amassed from 1967 to 1983.
I’m not that old. But when Sir Jackie Stewart convinced the Blue Oval to support his new team back in 1997, I was present at the launch of Stewart Grand Prix. In the Monaco Grand Prix that year, Rubens Barrichello came in second, and Johnny Herbert would win the team’s lone race at the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring in 1999. But after just three seasons, Sir Jackie sold the operation to Ford for a rumoured £65m. One of his better deals in a career that hasn’t been short on them.
Ford then rebranded it as Jaguar F1, in an effort to boost its profile in those heady, cash-rich PAG days. In 2000, if I recall correctly, I was also present at the launch, which took place at the MCC Cricket Club. Guenther Steiner was hired as managing director while Niki Lauda was in charge of Jaguar F1. At the time of my interviews, I found both of them to be irritable and lacking in positivity. Ford eventually lost patience and sold the team to Red Bull in November 2004. I was present at that press conference as well, and we all know what happened after that. Numerous race victories, championships, and the emergence of perhaps the greatest F1 team of the twenty-first century, along with Mercedes-AMG The wheel has now almost come full circle.
“F1 used to be such a beautiful thing. Now look at it… and as for these three races in the US, c’mon!” a friend and former industry insider messaged me as Along with Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, and the team’s prodigal son Daniel Ricciardo, Ford CEO Jim Farley appeared on stage with Red Bull Racing CEO Christian Horner. (Though not F1 supremo Stefano Domenicali who decided at the precise moment he was called on stage that the optics weren’t quite right after all.) Is it worthwhile to put off the inescapable cynicism and accept the news?
Source: topgear.com
