Ford’s F1 Return Inspires Caravaggio-Influenced Campaign From Wieden+Kennedy New York

Ford is using its return to Formula 1 as the launchpad for two campaigns spotlighting the engineers and extreme testing environments behind its performance vehicles.

‘Every Ground Is Our Proving Ground’, created by Wieden+Kennedy New York, connects the precision of the F1 grid – a sport it is returning to as an engine provider – with the brutal, off-road proving grounds of Baja and Dakar, showing how the brand’s racing programmes shape the technology that ultimately reaches consumer cars.

The campaign unfolds across two distinct but connected creative executions launching this month, and lives as the latest chapter of Ford’s global brand platform, ‘Ready Set Ford’, which it launched with Wieden+Kennedy last year.

The first, titled ‘Proving Ground’, debuts alongside Formula 1 practice and qualifying broadcasts on Apple TV, where Ford is the official sponsor. Rather than traditional advertising, the campaign uses Apple TV’s sequential storytelling capabilities to deliver a digital-first ‘micro-docuseries’ format.


“The F1 fan today is more online – watching content beyond the race to everything that happens in between,” say Eyob Yirgou and Simon Allen, senior copywriter and senior art director, respectively, at Wieden+Kennedy New York. “F1 is a massive cultural moment, and Ford is a sponsor of the broadcast. We knew we wanted to show up in a way that feels like a behind-the-scenes extension of race weekend rather than an interruption with unrelated content.”

The films spotlight real Ford Racing engineers, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the people developing technology that ultimately finds its way into Ford’s consumer vehicles.

“In a crowded space where fans have already seen the sport from every angle, we knew we had to show it differently,” says Eyob and Simon. “It couldn’t just feel like another version of ‘Drive to Survive’ or the ‘F1’ movie. We wanted an authentic representation of how Ford actually competes, how they see the sport, and innovative way of showing the intensity.”

So, instead of trying to make it feel faster, they slowed it down. Directed by Rupert Sanders via MJZ, with cinematography by Roman Vas’yanov, the hero film presents carefully composed moving portraits inspired by the dramatic lighting of Caravaggio, highlighting the intense focus and choreography involved in chasing fractions of a second on track.

“That restraint is then juxtaposed with visceral premonitions of what lies ahead on the road,” add Eyob and Simon. “Inspired by those painting's dramatic lighting, radical naturalism, and emotional tension, we aimed to create the same gritty realism and cinematic composition, pulling the viewer directly into the action.”

They add that Rupert’s ability to “balance cinematic scale with visual restraint, showing both the epic environments and the intimacy of the driver’s mindset”, helped turn the film into something that feels closer to a moving piece of art than a traditional car commercial. Meanwhile, bespoke rigging and lighting from Roman captured the realism of confronting places as extreme as Baja, Dakar, and the F1 circuit.

Alongside the hero film, a series of shorter engineer-focused spots, which make up the ‘docuseries’ element of the campaign, explore the work of real Ford Racing team members. These films were directed by Behemoth, the directing alias of Wieden+Kennedy New York creatives Zak DeLange and Andrew Congleton.





“This is a key part of our media buy, one part of a wider campaign that connects Raptor and our Off Road prowess with F1,” says Michael Cope, senior director, consumer marketing at Ford. “In this F1 campaign, we’re campaigning to tell the real stories of the lengths our Ford Racing engineers and drivers go to, in order to prove capability is proven in the extremes. In fact, Ford Racing team members are front and centre because their work ultimately moves from race to road vehicles.”

“In the end, the intensity of those stories began to mirror the way the film itself was made,” add Eyob and Simon. “In many ways, the production itself became a race to the finish – echoing the film’s thesis that true capability is proven in the extremes. With a brand that’s been racing for over 100 years and returning to the pinnacle of the sport, it required a deep level of trust between the client, agency, and production crew to meet the moment.”

A second campaign execution, ‘The Off Road to Greatness’, launches on March 19th during the opening round of March Madness. Directed by magna studios’ Sam Pilling, who also helmed Cadillac F1’s Super Bowl spot, with cinematography by Pat Scola, the film takes a more visceral approach, capturing the punishing physical reality of off-road racing and the toll extreme terrain takes on both drivers and machines.


Coordinating production across the films was no small feat. The shoot spanned more than three weeks across multiple US states, working with real Ford racing teams in environments that authentically reflected the places they compete around the world, including the Circuit of the Americas track in Austin, Texas for the F1 sequences, Lucerne Valley, California for the F-150 Raptor R scenes, and the Dumont Dunes for footage featuring the Raptor T1+.

“That authenticity guided everything,” say Eyob and Simon, from set design and wardrobe to the team actions shown in slow motion, many of which are based on real situations Ford Racing teams have faced in the wild. Using interviews with drivers and firsthand accounts of enduring harsh terrain, they translated those experiences into visceral imagery with the aim of elevating them into a more sensory, artful space.

The wider campaign also features Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo, who appears in content demonstrating the ‘race-proven’ capability of the consumer-grade Ford Raptor.

Together, the films are designed to reinforce Ford’s broader performance positioning, connecting its involvement in global motorsport with the engineering innovations that shape its road vehicles.

“F1 provides an unparalleled platform for reaching consumers around the world,” says Michael. “We’re looking to reach both existing F1 race fans and those who are just getting into F1 for the first time this season. Our goal is to show up unmistakably Ford and get their attention as they’re tuning in to watch.

“‘Every Ground Is Our Proving Ground’ is essentially a summary of everything we’re working to accomplish through Ford Racing. We’ll continue to show the connection between how racing leads to even better vehicles for our customers and helps build awareness of the Ford brand.”

To see the full credits for each of the films, click here.

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