With the purchase of a large part in Red Bull’s Formula One business, Porsche has at long last made public its intention to compete in Formula One. After years of speculating and spreading rumors, the news has finally been confirmed. A paper has disclosed the specifics of Porsche’s ambitious plan, even though the agreement has not yet been formally signed.
In question is a document that was produced and made public to comply with antitrust regulations. This document was published by the Conseil de la Concurrence, which is an authority in Morocco that governs competition in motorsports. That’s right, what this demonstrates is that the bureaucracy is, for once, working for our benefit.
According to the Conseil, Porsche made the initial public disclosure of the potential purchase on July 8, before the start of the Austrian Grand Prix. And the plan was to make the official announcement after the race, but because of a delay caused by the FIA, that didn’t end up happening either. It is conceivable that Porsche will make their debut in Formula One at the same time as the new engine regulations that will take effect in 2026. These new regulations are anticipated to radically alter the present rules by requiring the usage of synthetic fuels and smaller engines.
The name Porsche is most commonly associated with endurance racing and Formula E competitions these days, even though Porsche has won races in virtually every type of motorsport that can be imagined. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Porsche competed in almost 50 races in Formula 1 and Formula 2, ultimately winning the French Grand Prix in 1962 with an American driver behind the wheel.
Porsche left Formula One at the end of the 1964 season and did not return to the sport until 1991 when it made a brief and unsuccessful comeback as an engine supplier for the Footwork Arrows F1 team. It didn’t go well. Although Porsche was the engine supplier for the first six Grands Prix, none of the Porsche-powered F1 cars managed to cross the finish line in any of those races.