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'Link between Red Bull and Volkswagen Group still very good'
- GPblog.com
Early September the first rumours surf aced that the Volkswagen Group would possibly team up with Red Bull as from 2026. Friday the F1-world got the message that Audi and Porsche were very close to entering Formula 1. According to Ernst Knoors, a cooperation between Red Bull and the Volkswagen Group would be quite logical.
Porsche and Audi are part of the Volkswagen Group and Red Bull has good links with that party. "The link is still very good. One of the reasons they played it so hard with Renault at the time is that they were convinced that Porsche was going to do Formula 1," Knoors reports in an interview with Formule1.nl.
Porsche was already looking at a move into Formula 1 in 2017. The board gave permission and the 1.6 litre V6 engine was already running for hours on the test bench. Red Bull expected Porsche to go through with the project, but in the end the party didn't go through. Eventually Honda became the successor of Renault, because the marriage with the French couldn't be saved.
Does Red Bull need help?
"Because of Volkswagen's Dieselgate scandal, however, a line has been drawn through it," Knoors gives as the reason. The engine specialist thinks Red Bull will need the technical knowledge of a Porsche or Audi if a whole new engine is introduced in 2026. In terms of experience, the Austrian team is still a long way from the top brands like Mercedes or Ferrari.