F1: Porsche, Audi start F1 engine development – VW CEO (Update)

More quotes from VW CEO Diess:

Under Liberty Media’s leadership, “Formula 1 is developing extremely positively worldwide.

“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.”

He added: “If you do motorsport, you should do Formula 1 as that’s where the impact is greatest.”

Diess said that the “technology window” of 2026 was key given it forces teams, both new and established, to start from the same position.

“You need five or 10 years to be among the front-runners. In other words, you can only get on-board if you have a major rule change,” he said. “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 engine development, and you need three or four years to develop a new engine.

“That means you can decide now to do Formula 1 – or then probably not again for 10 years. And our two premium brands think that’s the right thing to do, and are prioritizing it.”

(GMM) Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess (shown above) says not every one of the German carmaker giant’s board members is happy about Porsche and Audi entering Formula 1 in 2026.

Only the finalization of the sport’s 2026 engine rules now stands between VW’s green light and F1 getting two premium new German manufacturers on the grid.

But CEO Herbert Diess told Wolfsburger Nachrichten and Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung newspapers: “The board of management did not quite agree.

“But the premium brands see Formula 1 as an important lever to increase brand value. Engine development has begun,” he revealed.

Diess said the board was ultimately won over by Porsche and Audi’s business-based arguments.

“With Formula 1, we get more money from Stuttgart and Ingolstadt than without Formula 1,” he insisted.

“Formula 1 is growing worldwide – in motorsport only Formula 1 counts. There is an opportunity to get started now through technical rule changes.”

As well as needing to wait for the FIA’s final 2026 engine plans, the two brands also need to sign deals with partner teams.

“At Porsche, the plans are quite advanced,” said Diess. “At Audi, they are not quite so far with that.”

It is widely believed that a Porsche-Red Bull tie-up is all but set in stone.

“I can’t comment on that,” Dr Helmut Marko smiled to f1-insider.com. “You’ll have to ask Mr Diess about that.”

Diess says Audi has also “started to develop engines”, with insiders predicting that McLaren, Sauber, Aston Martin or Williams could land that deal.