The German car company has been pushing on with its F1 plans, and said recently in an official statement that a final green light to make the move would come after F1’s new engine regulations for 2026 were finalised.
But VW CEO Herbert Diess revealed in a YouTube video on Monday, answering questions from residents of the Wolfsburg city where the company is based, about just how advanced the company is with its preparations.
Speaking openly about F1, Diess said that the boom that grand prix racing was enjoying in key markets like the USA, plus the opportunities an all-new rules set offered in 2026, meant that an opportunity was there to make the move that would not repeat itself for a while.
“Formula 1 is developing extremely positively worldwide,” he said. “The marketing that is happening there, plus Netflix, has led to Formula 1’s following growing significantly in the U.S. as well. Asia is growing significantly, including among young customer groups. If you look at the major sporting events or events in the world, it’s the case that in motorsport, it’s really only Formula 1 that counts and is becoming increasingly differentiated.
“If you do motorsport, you should do Formula 1 as that’s where the impact is greatest. What’s more, you can’t enter Formula 1 unless a technology window opens up which means, in order to get in there, a rule change: so that everyone starts again from the same place.
“As Markus Duesman [chairman of Audi and former BMW F1 head of powertrains] always tells me, you usually make up one second per season on a medium-sized race track simply by optimising details.
“But you can’t catch up on that when you join a new team: you need five or 10 years to be among the front runners. In other words, you can only get onboard if you have a major rule change.
“That’s coming now, and it will also come in the direction of 2026, when the engines will be electrified to a much greater extent, including with synthetic fuels. That means you need a new…
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