Ford using drag racing tech in F1 engine development

Ford Motor Company boss Jim Farley has explained that the American auto giant is using technology from drag racing in the development of its 2026 F1 power unit.

"We're going back to Formula 1 in a way that we haven't in the past, Farley said, explaining his decision to lead Ford's F1 return.

"It turns out that the best aerodynamics are in Formula 1, the best telemetry, the best digital diagnostics.

"And actually, we need all those things for electric and digital cars. So it's actually going back to the 70s with a pure tech transfer.

"This is not like owning our team; we're going there to literally transfer technology, he added. "We can offer battery tech for them, because in '26 they're going to go to like 50 percent electric and they need high discharge batteries - and we do that in NHRA, for example.

"And on the other hand, we can get telemetry, digital diagnostics, as well as aero, which can can put on our production of electric cars to make the battery smaller.

"They are the best in the world in a lot of these technologies and we need them desperately as the car business changes.

"So it's literally like going back to where we were all those years ago; tech transfer."