Ford shocked the world early last year when it announced that it would be returning to Formula 1 racing via a power unit partnership with Oracle Red Bull Racing, starting with the 2026 season. However, that opportunity only came about after Porsche backed out of its own deal with that same team, as Ford Authority previously reported. Porsche was reportedly seeking to purchase 50 percent of Red Bull Advanced Technologies and back the Powertrains division in a 10-year deal, which RBR wasn’t crazy about given its status as an independent entity. Now, it seems as if Porsche is closing the door on a potential F1 bid altogether.
“It is off the table – right now F1 is not a task for us and we are not spending any energy on that,” Porsche motorsport head Thomas Laudenbach explained in a recent interview with Motorsport.com. “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. On top of that we are racing in the two most important endurance racing series 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.”
These comments seemingly close the door on any potential return Porsche might have been considering to F1, over 30 years since it last served as an engine supplier for Footwork back in 1991. Prior to that, the German company had won just one F1 race in 1962 at the French Grand Prix in its first stint in that series.
Regardless, Ford was more than happy to seize this opportunity once Porsche backed out, and it did so starting with a quick email from Ford Motorsports global lead Mark Rushbrook to Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner. Rushbrook recently revealed that Ford wasn’t seeking the same sort of oversight as Porsche, but admitted that The Blue Oval is contributing to testing rigs for the team’s new combustion engine, as well as its turbochargers and the electrical components of the hybrid system.
We’ll have more on Ford’s return to F1 soon, so sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Ford motorsports news and 24/7 Ford news coverage.
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