Ford and Cosworth have worked together, and independently in Formula One. Their legendary partnership spanned almost four decades.
Early Years
Debuting in F1 in 1967, Cosworth had been founded by ex-Lotus personnel Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth (Cosworth is a portmanteau of their names). Cosworth worked with Lotus and Ford that year. They created the greatest engine in Formula One history: the Double Four Valve (DFV) engine. This engine would have success in three decades of Formula One. In 1967, Jim Clark won four times in the DFV and finished third in the drivers’ standings.
From 1968, Cosworth, with backing from Ford, began supplying more than just Lotus with the DFV. They supplied McLaren and Matra too. Combined, the three won all but the French Grand Prix that year, with Graham Hill winning the drivers’ title.
The Beginning of Ford-Cosworth DFV dominance
From 1968-1974, Cosworth-Ford’s DFV dominated Formula One. Here’s a stat to prove this. There were 19 team entries to score points in this time, and 11 of them were powered by the DFV. The other eight were either Repco, Ferrari, BRM, Matra or Tecno. In this time, Lotus won titles in 1968, 1970 and 1972 with Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt and Emerson Fittipaldi in the drivers’ and in 1968, 1970, 1972 and 1973 in the constructors. The other titles were won by Jackie Stewart in 1969 with Matra and 1971 and 1973 with Tyrrell and Fittipaldi and McLaren in 1974.
The Ford Cosworth DFV would be rarely updated and yet it still was the best engine, as it was cheap for smaller teams and was reliable for the time and fast. This is evidenced as in the eight seasons after 1974, the DFV won in all but three years. In 1975 and 1977, Niki Lauda and Ferrari won the title and in 1979, Jody Scheckter and Ferrari won the title. The rest were dominated by McLaren, Lotus, Brabham and a rising force called Williams. McLaren won in 1976 with James Hunt, Lotus won in 1978 with Mario Andretti, WIlliams won in 1980 with Alan Jones, the constructors in 1981 and in 1982 with Keke Rosberg (driver’s only) and Brabham won the driver’s in 1981 with Nelson Piquet.
The end of the DFV
Due to the turbocharged era, the DFV stopped being used by frontrunners, taking its final win at the 1983 Detroit Grand Prix with Tyrrell’s Michele Alboreto.
The official successor to the DFV came in 1989 when the turbocharged era ended. That was the HB. This was not as successful in the first five seasons as the DFV but Benetton did win races as did McLaren. The HB was then replaced by the EC (for Benetton) which gave Michael Schumacher his first title in 1994 and ED (for the other teams), but Ford and Cosworth’s partnership struggled.
The end of Ford and Cosworth’s partnership
After 1994, they took just two more wins. One with Johnny Herbert’s Stewart in the 1999 European Grand Prix and the other with Giancarlo Fisichella’s Jordan in the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix. In 2005, Cosworth and Ford separated after nearly forty years together. The evolution of Formula One had decayed the relationship, as it went through the turbocharged era, the V10 era and now headed into a V8 era.
Cosworth began making engines with backing from Gerald Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven in 2005, supplying Red Bull and Minardi. In 2006 they supplied Toro Rosso and Williams but left F1 at the end of that year, coming back in 2010 to supply Williams and backmarkers Lotus, HRT and Virgin. Lotus and Williams began being supplied by Renault in 2011 and 2012 respectively. HRT closed at the end of 2012 and at the end of 2013, Virgin (now called Marussia) left to be supplied by Ferrari. They left F1 at the end of 2013.
Ford left F1 entirely at the end of 2004 after failure with their own team Jaguar, who bought Stewart at the end of 1999. They are set to return in 2026 with Red Bull and Racing Bulls ahead of the new engine regulations.