The final three laps of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia felt like three lifetimes.

When that checkered flag finally waved and Max Verstappen in our Red Bull Ford Powertrains-powered car flashed across the finish line in first place, the mixture of emotions was like nothing I have experienced. Relief? Certainly. Pride? Definitely. Tears? Maybe the odd one! After all, this was Ford's first Formula 1 win since 2003 and our 177th win in our history — so it was a long time waiting!

Winning in F1 — at the pinnacle of global motorsport, against the most fiercely competitive engineering operations on the planet — is never an accident. It is one of the hardest things in sports. And to play our part in taking the top step of the podium in Malaysia is a moment none of us will ever forget.

Yet as the podium celebrations got underway and the champagne sprayed into the Sepang night, my mind kept traveling back to where this all began.

From a Manhattan Morning to the Top Step

Things have moved so quickly since we stood on a stage in New York in February 2023 to announce our return to F1 (although our plans to return started in the summer of 2022).

At the time, people questioned our ambition. Ford had been away from the sport for more than two decades. Taking on a radical new engine regulation cycle with a brand-new entity like Red Bull Ford Powertrains was an audacious gamble. We weren’t coming back to simply make up the numbers. We were coming back as an active, roll-up-our-sleeves technical partner.

From day one, we knew what we had taken on — we even described it as ‘a monumental challenge and a mountain to climb’. Building a modern F1 power unit means balancing intense internal combustion with massive, lightning-fast electrical energy deployment. You are operating at the razor’s edge of physics, chemistry, and software.

Turning that blank sheet of paper into a Grand Prix winner required an unprecedented transatlantic partnership.

The Unsung Heroes Behind the Screen

Whenever a car crosses the line first, the world sees the driver on the podium and the team principal accepting the trophy. Behind that moment sits the combined effort of thousands of people whose work makes success possible.

From the team in Dearborn, to the engineers and technical specialists at the Red Bull Ford Powertrains facility in Milton Keynes, every person has played an important role in this journey.

Motorsport at this level never sleeps. Teams in Dearborn led by Christian Hertrich worked closely with teams in Milton Keynes led by Ben Hogkinson. They shared data, insights, and expertise to support the continuous development of the program. Through that collaboration, knowledge flowed across sites, challenges were solved together, and progress was accelerated.

Success in F1 is the result of countless contributions from people across a wide range of disciplines. To every designer, dynamometer operator, software programmer, and logistics coordinator who has supported this program: Thank you for the commitment, expertise, and teamwork that helped make these achievements possible.

As Laurent Mekies, CEO and Team Principal of Oracle Red Bull Racing said after the race, “This is another milestone moment in the history of this team: the first victory for us as a power unit manufacturer with Red Bull Ford Powertrains in its very first season! The credit goes to all the people involved who have been working incredibly hard on this project over the past five years. Everyone in Milton Keynes and at the track deserves this moment and should celebrate it as an important step towards many more victories in the future."

Why We Race: The Outer Edge of Innovation

People often ask why Ford is in F1. What does racing on Sunday under floodlights thousands of miles away have to do with the cars and trucks parked in driveways back home?

The answer is more than you might think.

Ford Racing exists for three core reasons: to drive value back into our business, to connect our brand with new generations around the world, and to accelerate technology transfer between the racetrack and the street.

We go to the outer edge of technology because the outer edge is where the best learning happens. In F1, a fraction of a percent increase in battery efficiency or a millisecond faster thermal response isn’t just data — it’s the difference between winning and losing.

What we learn by managing high-voltage battery packs, high-output e-motors, and advanced software controllers under extreme racing conditions flows directly back into our production pipeline. It will make our future hybrid and electric road cars more efficient, more durable, and better to drive.

At the same time, this pipeline runs in both directions. Ford’s deep experience in scaling high-voltage manufacturing and commercial hybrid powertrains gave our race team a running start. That two-way exchange is the heartbeat of Ford Racing. It fuels halo performance vehicles like the F-150 Raptor, Ranger Raptor, and Bronco Raptor, just as it drives our customer race programs with the Mustang Dark Horse R, Mustang GT4, and Mustang GT3.

Racing also expands our global community. F1 has captured the cultural imagination of a whole new audience — younger, tech-savvy fans who love design, technology, and competition. When they tune in to marquee global races, they see Ford standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the best in the world.

Respecting the Past, Eye on the Championship

Ford has a proud history in F1. Henry Ford founded this company in 1903 using the winnings from his first and only race in Sweepstakes. Decades later, the legendary Ford Cosworth DFV engine powered 155 Grand Prix victories, making us the third-most successful engine manufacturer in F1 history.

We honor that heritage every day. But heritage doesn't give you horsepower down the straight.

In racing, you win and lose with equal grace. We celebrate after the race, but the next morning we reset. Malaysia is a massive validation of our vision, but it is just the first step on a much longer journey. Our mission is to continue playing our part in delivering championship-caliber power units to both Oracle Red Bull Racing and Visa Cash App Racing Bulls as we push toward the ultimate prize: the Drivers' and Constructors' World Championships.

A Personal Sense of Pride

On a personal level, this journey has meant the world to me.

Being involved with this project from its infancy — watching the first computer models, listening to the early dyno pulls, weathering the inevitable setbacks, and seeing two world-class groups of people come together — has been one of the proudest chapters of my life.

For Ford, racing has never been a sideline hobby; it is part of who we are. Watching the race, I felt the weight of that legacy, but more than anything, I felt an overwhelming sense of pride in our global Ford family.

To every Ford employee on the assembly line, in our design studios, at our proving grounds, and in our dealerships around the globe: Hold your heads high today. When that Red Bull Ford powered car took the checkered flag, it carried the pride, grit, and brilliance of all of us.

This is what happens when we dare to compete. And we are just getting started.

Mark Rushbrook is global director of Ford Racing.