Volkswagen Plans To Join F1 In 2015; Reportedly Talking With Sauber Team
The German weekly Sport Bild said the Wolfsburg based carmaker giant was planning to enter F1 with Sauber, or even considering getting involved in chassis design at its state of the art Porsche Motorsport Centre in Weissach.
The report said the FIA was aware of VW's plans.
But the marque's marketing and communications boss Stefan Moser said: "Nothing has changed since our last statement.
"We are continuing to focus on the WRC. Entering formula one is not an issue for us right now," he told Germany's motorsport-magazin.com.
08/17/12 (GMM) The German weekly Sport Bild is also reporting that Volkswagen, the carmaker giant, is making plans to enter formula one in 2015.
Sauber team boss Peter Sauber confirmed recently that he met at the Geneva motor show with VW's chairman Martin Winterkorn.
The Swiss team's chief executive Monisha Kaltenborn denied there is any more to the story.
But Sport Bild said Volkswagen is planning to enter F1 with Sauber, the Hinwil based team who won a grand prix with BMW during the 2006-2009 collaboration.
The report said the FIA has been informed of the VW-Sauber plans, with Wolfsburg based VW reportedly keen to strengthen its presence in the key premier car markets in China, the US, Russia and Brazil.
Sport Bild also said Sauber might be just a "stepping stone" into F1 for VW, with the marque also keen to get involved in F1 chassis design at its state of the art Porsche Motorsport Centre in Weissach, Germany.
08/16/12 This rumor is upgraded back to 'speculation today. German automaker Volkswagen "plans to join the F1 racing series in '15," according to Peter Hesseler of SpeedWeek.de. The Wolfsburg-based company "is reportedly in talks with the Sauber F1 team to start a partnership."
Even governing body FIA "is reportedly in favor of an F1 comeback of VW." In addition to cooperation plans with Sauber, VW "is secretly working on building its own F1 chassis." An F1 involvement could boost the automaker's image in key markets such as China, the U.S., Brazil and Russia SpeedWeek.de
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| 0.00% – that's the chances VW will enter F1 as long as this man, 75- year old Ferdinand Piech, is alive |
07/26/12 This rumor is downgraded to 'false' today. A source at Volkswagen has rejected speculation the German car giant could team up with Sauber in formula one.
Peter Sauber fuelled the Hockenheim paddock rumors when he confirmed that he had met up with VW chairman Martin Winterkorn at the Geneva motor show recently.
"We are certainly not going to make public the content of the conversation," he said.
A Volkswagen source, however, has been willing at least to wind down the rumors about a F1 tie-up with Sauber.
The source said: "As long as Ferdinand Piech is alive, the chance of a formula one entry (for VW) is zero point zero."
Piech is Volkswagen's supervisory group chairman.
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| Peter Sauber |
07/22/12 (GMM) Peter Sauber at Hockenheim said just enough to kindle speculation the Swiss team could team up with German car giant Volkswagen.
When told there are rumors of a possible tie-up between his Hinwil based team and VW, Sauber said: "Indeed it is so."
Blick newspaper said the common link between Sauber and VW could be Jürgen Hubbert, Mercedes' former chief.
Sauber confirmed: "At the Geneva motor show we had a meeting with (Volkswagen chairman Martin) Winterkorn.
"We are certainly not going to make public the content of the conversation," he insisted.
Sauber also added fuel to paddock rumors the team's former technical boss James Key could be headed to Toro Rosso to replace the vacationing Giorgio Ascanelli.
"I've heard that," the 68-year-old said simply.