Ford’s motorsport team has 3D-printed over 1,000 parts in preparation for its 2026 Formula 1 debut with Red Bull, creatively testing them using methods borrowed from aerospace. 3D-printed Top Gun, anyone?
Components such as cold plates for batteries and cooling plates for other parts were printed and then put through X-ray and CT scanners by the Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) team. Which sounds like a fun team.
Christian Hertrich, chief powertrain expert at Ford Performance Motorsports, said: “It’s not things like nuts and bolts and easy stuff. These are complex metal and polymer parts that get tested to extremes so they can withstand races that average 320kph.”
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To make parts tough enough for the extreme demands of F1, Hertrich explained that testing involves 3D scanning for mechanical strength, hardness, and geometric compliance. Then the NDE team gives them a whirl in their fancy super scanners before they get sent to metrology, where they're tested for accuracy and precision. Then, they’re off to Red Bull F1.
Ford explains that these rigorous testing protocols have been created through collaboration among various departments within the company, and such approaches are finding their way into road car development as well. Citing a glue issue on an F-150 headlight—the root cause of which eluded engineers for months—he said the NDE team brought their handy scanners and wrapped things up in a day. Nice mic drop moment.
Of course, additive manufacturing (3D-printing in industry speak) isn’t new. Remember the Bugatti brake caliper, or this homemade V8 Aventador, or the entire Czinger 21C? But Ford is definitely pushing the envelope by both sticking more of this stuff out on track and catalyzing a trickle-down effect to consumer cars.
Projects like this HRE wheel demonstrate how 3D printing gives engineers the capacity to create shapes and forms impossible through traditional methods, and F1 engineers have long appreciated the speed of additive manufacturing, not to mention the lightweighting benefits.
Whether or not Ford’s rapidly produced 3D-printed parts translate to rapid results out on track remains to be seen. Roll on 2026.
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
