Toto Wolff reckons it is bold of Red Bull to go their own engine route and feels that Porsche would have been a great addition as F1 rivals.
As has become well known and well documented, the Red Bull team recently terminated the discussions between themselves and Porsche. The two parties had been in negotiation for the 2026 season regarding a Power Unit project but those negotiations have now concluded and are ended.
When the new regulations commence, Audi will be the only Volkswagen Group brand on the grid. As a result of this, Red Bull Powertrains will press on with constructing their own F1 engine, notwithstanding that do they remain open to a future collaboration with a third party. Horner advised that a venture with Honda could be a runner, especially in terms of battery technology.
Wolff admires the idea, stating that it looks to be a “very bold strategy” after the discussions with Porsche came to end. Furthermore, advising it was a shame that his beloved Mercedes outfit would not be in a position to fight their fellow German outfit.
“I think it’s a very bold strategy,” said Wolff to media. “Being self-sufficient is clearly a scenario that Red Bull have always wanted to achieve, have their own power unit, not be dependent of any other OEM. And here we go. That’s the strategy they have deployed. And we shall see what happens in ’26/’27/’28.
“Clearly, this is setting a direction, and I’m not involved in the detail whether Porsche joins in badging the engine or if Honda is going to badge the engine,” summed up Wolff. It really would have been an incredibly fascinating scenario to see both well-known and famous brands battling it out in the blue riband event of motorsport.
“It’s a shame obviously, from me as a Mercedes person, it’s a shame that we can’t fight with Porsche,” said Wolff. “Porsche/Red Bull would have been a mega entry. A great brand. And that didn’t work out for reasons that are unknown to me. It would have been really great for F1 and all of us overall if they would have joined forces for the attractiveness of the sport.”
But despite the collapse of the talks, the Austrian does believe a marque like Porsche can bring a lot to the sport. Their CV in other motor sport areas, particularly endurance is massively impressive so why not F1. “Every large corporation, especially auto companies, not only auto companies, because Red Bull is also pretty good at that, that not only buys a racing team and invest large amounts of money into running it, but also invests even more into activation is beneficial for F1,” he said.
“And if a brand like Porsche that is known all over the world, puts their marketing dollars into activating F1, we will all be benefiting, and I think this is the important part,”summed up Wolff. It was a shame that talks between Red Bull and Porsche came to an end.
It remains to be seen how successful Red Bull will be building their own engine and will they in the end have to revert to a third party route. The Porsche dream for F1 may not be over either and is still a fascinating thought and scenario.
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