Porsche reluctant to return to F1

Porsche now belongs to the Volkswagen group. Represented mainly in endurance races, the Stuttgart brand could see its competition department expanded, as Matthias Müller, the general director of Porsche, indicated during the Paris Motor Show. “We have to examine whether it is more logical for one of the two brands (Porsche and Volkswagen) to go into LMP1 and the other into Formula 1 »

Wolfgang Durheimer, director of the research and development sector of the Stuttgart manufacturer, also announced that the German brand could be interested in a return to F1. But Matthias Müller expressed the doubts that are holding back this project. “F1 is a discipline focused on the drivers. The manufacturers only play a secondary role,” he commented in the Westfalen Blatt newspaper. “Moreover, the rules are imprecise for such a heavy long-term investment. »

But if the discussions were to lead to the creation of a team for the premier single-seater discipline, Matthias Müller is hopeful that it will be Porsche that will be approached. “The Volkswagen Group was interested but it would certainly be Porsche which would have the capacity to produce the best result. »

Volkswagen unveiled the new Touareg RT 3 during the Rally from France Alsace where Sébastien Loeb won his seventh title. At present, Volkswagen may be planning to follow a program in WRC by letting the Stuttgart brand return to F1 almost 40 years after its withdrawal (in 1963).