$66 billion worth German carmaker officially calls off plans to enter F1 after failed talks with Red Bull
Like Audi, Porsche also wanted to enter the world of Formula 1, however, through a different route.
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Red Bull RB20 and Porsche, images via Motors Inside and Wikipedia respectively
F1 has been growing at a rate of knots worldwide ever since Liberty Media‘s takeover. Subsequently, this has led to a sudden increase in demand for brands and car makers to enter the paddock and capitalize on the sport’s growth. Similarly, this growth led to Porsche being tempted to join the grid in a partnership with Red Bull, but negotiations led to no avail. This has now led the German marque to finally call off its ambition to join the pinnacle of motorsports.
Porsche was a former manufacturer in F1. The German marque had been a part of the championship ladder since 1957 and made cars for the F2 championship. However, its solitary triumph in the apex came in 1962, and later withdrew from the season due to high operational costs. On the other hand, to correct its past mistakes and capitalize on the series’ growth, Porsche made a bid to enter the championship by buying out equity in existing teams.
Moreover, they got close to Red Bull for a partnership deal before Ford entered the scene. The partnership between the Austrian and German giants did not proceed due to Porsche’s extraordinary demands.
It is off the table: right now F1 is not a task for us and we are not spending any energy on that.Thomas Laudenbach said in an interview with Motorsport.com
Despite this, the German manufacturer still did not give up and continued its work to achieve this dream. They continued talks with various other teams on the grid but were unable to crack the door for entry to the championship. This led Porsche’s Vice President, Thomas Laudenbach, to officially announce the termination of the project going further and ceasing any remaining attempts.
Porsche is satisfied with its current array of motorsports participation
Though Porsche has not been a part of F1 for decades, its name is revered in the motorsport world for dominance and perfection. This statement was renounced by the current vice-head of motorsports as he named out the German giant’s presence in other motorsport formats.
The 53-year-old claimed to be contented with their vast presence on the motorsport scene.
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. We are engaged in customer racing from track days, GT4, one-make series up to professional GT racing [in GT3].Thomas Laudenbach said in an interview with Motorsport.com
The Vice President of Porsche Motorsport further added.
On top of that we are racing in the two most important endurance racing series [the World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship with the 963 LMDh] 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.Thomas Laudenbach said
Laudenbach explained that Porsche has multiple customer teams for the GT3 and GT4 category. On the other hand, they have been successfully running their endurance cars in both WEC and IMSA with Penske and have been a major part of the electric revolution with Formula E.
Despite the marque being happy with its motorsport inventory, Porsche has eluded for an F1 entry even before 2021. The team had prepared a demo engine and were ready to begin their journey if the VW group was in support. However, the wounds of not entering F1 would endure for longer as Porsche has registered another near miss.
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Geetansh Pasricha
(772 Articles Published)