Volkswagen will or will not come to F1?

A sea serpent of the last ten years, the arrival of the German giant in Formula 1 will be played out over the next two months. Who from Porsche, Audi, both or neither will be on the 2026 trip? The ball is in the court of the Group's board of directors.

Published on 02/02/2022 à 16:00

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Audi and Porsche are used to competing on the tracks.

The relationship between the Volkswagen Group brands and F1 it's nothing new. Between the 1958 and 1964 Dutch Grands Prix, the team Porsche “factory” (then independent of Volkswagen) competed in 31 GPs, winning a victory at Rouen-les-Essarts in 1962 with Dan Gurney at the wheel. We then had to wait until the 1980s to witness the return of the firm with an engine financed by the TAG factory and winner of three world titles with Niki Lauda (1984) and Alain Prost (1985/1986). After four years of silence, it returned with a V12 designed without great resources and entrusted to the Footwork team, Arrows' new name. The block, heavy and bulky, was a bitter failure and the Zuffenhausen firm withdrew at the end of the 1991 financial year. The idea of a new comeback emerged twenty years later when the introduction of turbo/hybrid powertrains was on the agenda for the 2014 season. President Ferdinand Piëch, however, ended up refusing, the man not liking the way in which the sport was then managed by Bernie Ecclestone.