Yahoo Autos Horner: Red Bull F1 Team Can Still 'Achieve the Impossible' without Porsche
Discussions between Porsche and Red Bull for Porsche to become Red Bull's Formula 1 engine supplier collapsed this week.
Porsche wanted to acquire a sizeable share in Red Bull, and effectively become a joint entrant.
Red Bull was not willing to relinquish its independence.
Red Bull believes Porsche “got a bit ahead of themselves” regarding 2026 plans following news that a proposed Formula 1 partnership will not go ahead.
The two companies were in discussions for a prolonged period over the prospect of working together in anticipation of the new-for-2026 power unit regulations. But while Porsche wanted to acquire a sizeable share in Red Bull, and effectively become a joint entrant, Red Bull was not willing to relinquish its independence.
It was revealed publicly by Porsche on Friday that the proposed tie-up will no longer go ahead.
“OEMs have had a tradition of coming and going,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. “I think Red Bull has proved its commitment to the sport, not just through Red Bull Racing, but through its investment in Sauber before that and its sponsorship before that. Red Bull has been committed to the business, and probably the biggest investor in F1 when you consider two Grand Prix teams, Grand Prix (Austria), and all the promotion it provides globally.”
Horner outlined that “nothing was ever signed or agreed” and suggested that Porsche as a big organization “needed significant planning, and I think were slightly getting a bit ahead of themselves” when it came to the proposed 2026 tie-up.
“I’m not going to go into the detail of what those details were or entail, but one the strengths this team has is its independence,” Horner said. “It instils all of the virtues and values of Red Bull—as a challenger, as a maverick—and it’s one of the core attributes that has enabled us to be as successful as we have in the sport to date. We didn’t want to diminish those or dilute those in any way and they’re fundamental principles for how we will also attack the challenge of the power unit.
“We’re a race team fundamentally and that enables us to make quick decisions, effective decisions and react very quickly as a race team. I think we’ve seen on so many occasions manufacturers have been less autonomous in their decision-making and that was a key aspect of protecting what we have and how we operate, which has proved to be reasonably successful.”
Red Bull and AlphaTauri are currently supplied by Red Bull Powertrains, which was created for 2022 following the official withdrawal of previous supplier Honda. The Japanese marque is continuing to provide technical support during the current regulatory period through 2025, with no development due to the engine freeze. The collapse of the Porsche talks ostensibly leaves RBPT by itself but while Horner outlined that Red Bull “would be stupid not to listen” to any other interested manufacturer, he emphasized his confidence that the organization can emerge as a success.
“When you are building a power entity from scratch, with an OEM, what can they potentially bring to the party that we didn’t have access to,” Horner pondered. “I think, having done our due diligence, we felt that actually we were in good shape and with the recruitment we’ve made technically, we don’t feel at any disadvantage to our competitors.
“Some people think we’re completely mad to take on the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes and Renault and potentially Honda starting from scratch. But that is exactly the Red Bull way: to achieve the impossible. That was said about designing and building a chassis. With the quality of people that we’ve managed to recruit in the U.K., there hasn’t been an investment in the U.K. in an engine facility probably in the last 40 years. That has enabled us to attract some phenomenal talent that we’re still actively recruiting and (we’ll be) announcing some more new members of the team in the near future.”
Porsche outlined in its statement on Friday that it remains interested by Formula 1’s new-for-2026 power unit regulations.
Sister brand Audi has already committed for 2026, and is creating a power unit production facility in Germany, ahead of an anticipated buy-in of Sauber Motorsport, which currently fields the Alfa Romeo team in Formula 1.
