'Competitors will lie for Red Bull and Porsche collaboration'

Audi and Porsche are under time pressure. The Volkswagen Group wants both brands to join Formula 1, but there are more hurdles on the road than expected. The competitors are not exactly cooperating either.

Participation of Volkswagen

On December 15th, the FIA will decide on the engine regulations for 2026 during the World Council meeting. The question is what the Volkswagen Group will do. For Audi and Porsche the MGU-H was removed from the new engine so the gap with the current manufacturers wouldn't be too big, but there is still no clarity from the German side.

According to Auto, Motor und Sport Audi and Porsche have spoken to McLaren, Red Bull, Williams and Sauber. The CEO's of VW, Audi and Porsche want to enter F1 with both brands. By doing so they develop one engine, but collect prize money with two teams. This strategy is also used in the World Endurance Championship.

Things are not going according to plan. Audi would take over a team and was aiming at McLaren, but with the current hype around Formula 1 teams are getting more expensive. Also, McLaren wouldn't be completely open to selling the team, so Audi has to come up with another plan. Smaller teams like Sauber and Williams seem to be more logical choices.

Collaboration with Red Bull

The brand however doesn't want to start at the back. Porsche wants to develop the engine together with Red Bull. For now, Red Bull still plans to build its own engine from 2026 onwards, but is also open to a cooperation with another party. For now this is still with Honda, but it won't take long anymore.

Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari do not want to cooperate. They already gave up the MGU-H, in which a lot has been invested in the last couple of years, to accommodate Volkswagen. If Porsche can then work in parallel with Red Bull in the coming years, it will provide much more than the competitors can manage.

''You would have twice as much time on the test bench as we do. That would also go against the budget cap, because in this case it's two teams working together on one engine with twice as much money,'' the other teams are quoted as saying. So how and if Volkswagen will enter F1 is far from clear.