• by Tanya Gazdik , March 5, 2026

Ford Motor Co. is extending its “Ready Set Ford” global campaign to the racetrack. 

The Formula 1 season starts this weekend, and Ford is returning to the grid after a two-decade hiatus with a new focus: human capability and how racing helps lead to better vehicles.

“Every Ground Is Our Proving Ground” is the new strategic platform defining Ford’s role as technical partner to Oracle Red Bull Racing. 

New spots from Wieden+Kennedy feature the automaker’s efforts in off-road racing and first-person point-of-view stories from Ford engineers, featuring no actors or CGI. 

The effort includes the 30-second  “Every Ground Is Our Proving Ground,” the 30-second “The Off-Road to Greatness,” the 15-second “The Race Before The Race," and “The Race Before the Race (Baja). 

The automaker is using the Apple TV broadcast of Formula 1 to tell a serialized story that connects the F1 grid directly to vehicles like F-150 Raptor, says Michael Cope, Ford senior director, consumer marketing. 

“We are using this broadcast and Ford Racing to tell a different kind of tech story—one of dirt, grit, and human focus,” Cope writes in a blog post. 

The effort returns to the philosophy company founder Henry Ford established 125 years ago: using racing to prove the company’s  ideas are better.

“Today, that philosophy has evolved into a simple truth: True capability is proven in the extremes,” Cope says. “And when we say ‘extremes,’ we don't just mean the F1 circuit. We mean racing, we mean off-road, and we mean the hard work our customers do every day.”

Ford doesn’t believe “standard” commercials will cut it for the F1 audience. 

“So, we are utilizing Apple TV’s sequential ad capabilities to air a ‘micro docuseries’ throughout the race weekend,” Cope says.  “Instead of interrupting the broadcast, we are treating the ad breaks like stories. From Friday practice through the Sunday Grand Prix, viewers will watch a progressing narrative. We are using the screen to draw a direct line between the high-speed drama of F1 and the engineering reality of the vehicles that pull up to job sites and trailheads across America.”

The R&D Ford tests in harsh environments builds better vehicles for everyone, he says. 

"We are drawing a direct line between our race vehicles and the tech inside the F-150 Raptor, the Bronco Raptor, and even our future electric trucks,” Cope says.