Porsche: F1 “off the table”

Porsche has described Formula 1 as “off the table” after it failed to partner with Red Bull for the new era.

The famous German brand had shown interest in adding the pinnacle of motorsport to its other factory backed programs such as FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA, Formula E.

In April 2022 Volkswagon announced both Porsche and Audi were interested in Formula 1 programs.

Whilst Audi ended up taking over Sauber, Porsche was in conversations about joining forces with Red Bull for the 2026 reset.

However, the talks that reached a late changed ended up breaking down due to a “strategic non-alignment” according to Christian Horner and the current world champions ended up doing a deal with Ford to badge the engines produced by Red Bull Powertrains.

With the Red Bull door firmly closed, Porsche motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach said F1 is no longer an option for the brand.

“It is off the table,” he said.

“Right now F1 is not a task for us and we are not spending any energy on that.

“We are only focused on what we do right now, and if you look at it, we have many different activities.

“We are well-occupied and extremely happy with what we do.”

Whilst Porsche is best known for sports cars and Le Mans, it does has F1 pedigree.

The highlight was the factory works team from 1957-1964 where it took five podiums and a victory in the 1962 French Grand Prix by Dan Gurney.

Branded as a TAG engine, Porsche V6 turbos also helped McLaren to championship success from midway through 1983-1987.

First Niki Lauda scored a thrilling championship success in 1984 before Alain Prost had his own way the following season.

Porsche’s last time in F1 was with Footwork in 1991.

But Laudenbach believed Porsche’s current portfolio of racing commitments spearheaded by Matt Campbell and the 963 is the right balance.

“We are engaged in customer racing from track days, GT4, one-make series up to professional GT racing,” he said.

“On top of that we are racing in the two most important endurance racing series with our partner Penske.

“The third part, since electrification of our brand is very important, is our engagement in Formula E, which is the only full-electric series on a high level.

“I think we are really well served.”

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