F1 a “closed chapter” for Porsche after failed Red Bull bid

Porsche’s aspirations to return to Formula 1 are now “a closed chapter”, the marque’s motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach has revealed.

Laudenbach’s assertion that Porsche has no plans for a comeback more than 30 years on from its last engagement as an engine supplier with Footwork in 1991 represent the manufacturer’s first comments about an F1 entry since the full unveiling of the 2026 regulations in June.

They follow nearly two years on from the breakdown of its prospective partnership with Red Bull Racing that would have involved it becoming a 50% owner of the team and its new powertrain division

At that stage, in September 2022, Porsche still talked about F1 as “an attractive environment” in the statement announcing that it was no longer pursuing the Red Bull option, but now Laudenbach has now stated that it is “not a topic for us”.

“It is off the table: right now F1 is not a task for us and we are not spending any energy on that,” he explained.

“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.”

Laudenbach pointed to Porsche’s wide motorsport portfolio, describing it as “nearly the perfect fit for the brand”.

“We are engaged in customer racing from track days, GT4, one-make series up to professional GT racing [in GT3],” he explained.

“On top of that we are racing in the two most important endurance racing series [the World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship with the 963 LMDh] 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.”

Laudenbach also stated that Porsche had no interest in joining the IndyCar Series as an engine supplier.

Volkswagen announced in April 2022 that both its Porsche and Audi brands were pursuing F1 entries and that plans were in the “final evaluation phase”.

For Porsche those evaluations involved a link-up with Red Bull that ultimately foundered because, it said, the partnership it sought based on an “equal footing” could not be achieved.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner subsequently said that there was a “strategic non-alignment” and that the team didn’t want to diminish…