VW CEO Confirms Porsche and Audi Are Serious About F1

Audi and Porsche are no strangers to F1 rumors. Porsche alone has been rumored to join the series in 2010, 2014, 2019, and March of last year. Unusually, though, the most recent rumor seems to have popped up every few months since and slowly developed more and more details. The latest is the closest thing to a direct confirmation yet, an official acknowledgement from Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess that plans to eventually join the F1 engine manufacturer pool are very much in play for both Porsche and Audi.

Diess, who was speaking in a Q&A with residents of Wolfsburg, shared that both companies are targeting the 2026 season for their respective debuts as part of the category's new generation of engine regulations. He notes that this major technical change, one built in part around the synthetic fuels that Porsche has made a significant future goal, opens a door for both brands to enter the category on equal footing that may not open again for a decade.

While existing rumors indicate that Porsche is most likely to tie up with Red Bull as a replacement for their existing plan to switch to internally-designed engines in 2026, Audi's plans are less clear. Rumors of a McLaren acquisition were quickly denied in November of last year, but they indicate that Audi may be willing to do something dramatic to enter the series with a splash in the near future.