Written by Hugh Waring, Edited by Sameena Khan
Porsche has confirmed they will not join the 2026 F1 grid following previous interests.
The German manufacturers were expected to entertain an entrance alongside fellow Volkswagen Group brand Audi, following the new 2026 engine regulations.
Audi has committed to Formula One by having an increased stake in Sauber and will build its own engine. On the other hand, Porsche wanted to enter F1 with a significant stake in a leading team. Moreover, it had been known that talks between the VW Group manufacturer and Red Bull and McLaren had collapsed due to their reluctance to lose control of their businesses to Porsche.
Porsche has confirmed that they will not be joining in 2026. They are now focusing on other current motorsport programmes, including Formula E, where they currently lead both the drivers and constructors championships and their return to the Le Mans 24hrs with the 963 Hypercar project.
VW CEO Herbert Diess said this would be its last chance for another decade to join the leading motorsport competition.
"You can't catch up on that when you join a new team," stated Diess.
"You need five or ten years to be among the front runners. In other words, you can only get on board if you have a major rule change.
"That means you can decide now to do Formula 1 – or then probably not again for ten years."
During a high-profile report, Porsche and Red Bull were initially expected to partner up. Porsche would help supply engines to the current world champions, helping Red Bull's powertrains venture. However, with the critical 50% buyout clause, Christian Horner's team rejected these propositions.
After this collapse, it would have only been likely that the manufacturer would plan to run a team under its name while using Audi engines. However, in conversations with McLaren, the Woking-based team rejected these naming rights as the historic team did not want to forfeit its control.
The new 2026 engine rules have interested many potential future manufacturers as they will remove the MGU-H component, allowing for new entries to better their establishment on the 2026 grid as their engine developments will not be behind competitors due to the significant regulatory changes.