Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Paul Ricard, 2022

Porsche begins buy-in to Red Bull’s F1 operation

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In the round-up: Porsche is taking its first steps to joining forces with Red Bull’s Formula 1 operation.

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In brief

Porsche buying into Red Bull

The first details of Porsche’s moves to buy into Red Bull’s Formula 1 operation have emerged.

The company indicated in May it intends to enter F1 in 2026, to coincide with the introduction of new engine regulations. These are yet to be finalised, and the recent replacement of former CEO Herbert Diess with Oliver Blume prompted speculation of a change of direction by Porsche.

However new documents released by Morocco’s Conseil de la Concurrence (Competition Council) show Porsche is in the process of buying 50% of the shares in Red Bull Technology, which manufacturers the F1 team’s chassis.

The scope of a final deal is likely to go much further than this, and include Red Bull’s junior team AlphaTauri which is also supplied by its technology division. However the latest disclosure indicates the wheels are in motion for Porsche to return to F1 for the first time in over three decades.

Szafnauer: “more to come” for close racing from 2022 rules

Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer said that the team was “reasonably satisfied” with the first half of 2022 but believes there was more to come from both the new regulations and its performance.

“Coming into the year, there was a sense of heading into the unknown with the change of regulations, different looking cars and the ambition of harder and closer racing on-track,” said Szafnauer. “I think there’s more to come in terms of achieving the ultimate objective of wheel-to-wheel racing, corner after corner, but, we’ve seen some excellent races at the majority of grand prix.

“In terms of our performance, we’re in a strong position to achieve our season aim of being fourth place in the constructors’ championship. Regularly, we are the fourth-fastest car, even if we have not extracted or shown that potential as much as we’d have liked.”

Christian Mansell becomes fourth different driver in Charouz F3 seat

Euroformula Open driver Christian Mansell will take over the number 15 Charouz Racing System F3 car this weekend in Budapest. The car has previously been driven by Ayrton Simmons, David Schumacher, Lirim Zendeli and Zdeněk Chovanec over the course of the season so far.

Charouz confirmed Mansell will also contest the Spa round for them, following the summer break. Mansell is currently second in the Euroformula Open standings behind Oliver Goethe, who will also make his F3 debut this weekend. The Australian driver is not related to 1992 F1 world champion Nigel Mansell.

Jaguar Formula E data used for road car hybrid efficiency boost

Jaguar Land Rover has developed two systems for its hybrid cars that use Formula E-style braking techniques to extend range and manage electrical power better. Modelled on the way that FE drivers lift and coast before cornering, the systems use GPS data and road information to help manage energy usage when approaching stopping points such as traffic lights.

Predictive Energy Optimisation software in plug-in hybrids will manage the systems for the driver to minimise energy usage before braking or coming to a halt. Eco Coach, in milder hybrid models, will prompt drivers when to lift and coast ahead of a braking event, optimising efficiency. Predictive Energy Optimisation offers potential efficiency gains of as much as 10%, says Jaguar.

Miami Grand Prix worth $350 million to local economy

South Florida Motorsport, the promoter of this year’s inaugural Miami Grand Prix, has released an estimate that the event contributed $350 million (£287.9m) to the local economy.

Of that figure, $150 million is reported to be visitor spending in Miami. The average visitor for the grand prix spent $1,940 while in the city of Miami, which the report states is nearly double average visitor spending. 84% of visitors to Miami during the race period came specifically for the grand prix and 66% of attendees were travelling in from outside Miami.

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Comment of the day

With Ferrari’s championship hopes fading, Tifoso 1989 says that thoughts about the long game have to be abandoned for Hungary success – and a boost of hope for the Tifosi:

Theoretically speaking, Hungaroring should be another Monaco track for Ferrari pace wise where Red Bull have no business finishing on the front row in both qualifying and race. Technically speaking, reliability will be a concern for Ferrari not only due to hot temperatures but to the fact that Hungaroring is one of hardest circuits on fuel.

Ferrari failures in both Spain and Baku were due to the high fuel consumption nature of both circuits. Ferrari are using a three-way ignition system. A pre-ignition, a proper ignition and a post ignition phase to cool the cylinder that have been reduced in order to save fuel which caused the poppet valves to overheat and fail.

Binotto should tell all his team to forget about both championships. The only objective from now on is to learn how to maximize the weekend points, period. They need to well prepare their weekend and like Sainz said “stop inventing”. If they will manage to attack every weekend with a target in mind that must be achieved, it will surely pay dividend in the long terms. I just hope that Ferrari will concentrate on their own race and keep in mind that track position is king in Hungaroring unless the tyre advantage is huge.

I personally think that Ferrari are really dysfunctional in terms of racing operations which is depressing not only for the their fans but for the rest of the team in factory that have managed to deliver the F1-75 which is currently the best all around car.

Apart from Spa and Monza and the race where Charles will have a PU change. Ferrari are capable to deliver one-twos in all the remaining races. I think Spa is a good race to serve a PU penalty because of the nature of circuit where overtaking is not difficult when the delta between cars is important and also because Red Bull are going to run away with it anyway.
@Tifoso1989

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Big Galah, Solo, Holly and Bill Niehoff!

On this day in motorsport

  • 20 years ago today Michael Schumacher won the first F1 race on the revised, shortened Hockenheimring

Author information

Hazel Southwell
Hazel is a motorsport and automotive journalist with a particular interest in hybrid systems, electrification, batteries and new fuel technologies....

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33 comments on “Porsche begins buy-in to Red Bull’s F1 operation”

  1. I’m fascinated that the Porsche buy-in is 50%, and not 49% or 51%. Usually with things like this there is an obvious majority owner one way or the other. So I’m really intrigued to see how this pans out.
    At least when Porsche enviably pulls out (after 10 years based on these published documents) the team shouldn’t be in danger (like Honda / Toyota / BMW circa 2008).

    1. (In private companies) The Shareholders’ Agreement is more important in that sense than the pure percentage shareholding.
      It determines how decisions are being made, how future shareholding changes are organised, and what rights shareholders have.

    2. @eurobrun Not sure of the context and if this 50% is an estimate or provisional figure, but there can also be different classes of shares available. Even if ownership is 50/50 in terms of capital, it’s likely that one party will have the majority of the voting rights and therefore overall control of the company.

  2. W Series at Singapore is gonna be an incredibly long lap. Surely 2:20 a lap given GP2 was barely under 2mins. God help us when we get a Safety Car!

  3. If anyone believes the $350 M figure tossed out by the Miami GP promoters, I’ve got a bridge to sell them.

    1. @forrest Yes I know it’s very likely inflated, I couldn’t find any information on how much it costs to run the three day event. I did find a lot of complaints about very expensive ticket prices, at $640 for the cheapest grandstand tickets, the general admission area was from $300 for Friday up to $500 on race day.
      Compared to the Australian Grand Prix’s 4-day roaming access in General Admission for under $200 or a grandstand seat for just over $300.

      and the logistics failed somewhat. As on race day, many stall vendors couldn’t make it to the circuit due to traffic congestion, so a lot of stalls did not open.

    2. Especially since only

      66% of attendees were travelling in from outside Miami.

      That means a third of the money would likely have been spent in metro Miami at some point in some way without the outlays involved, because the attendees live there.

    3. I believe they calculated $350M.
      I’m sure I would question some of the pools of $ they used to arrive at this # :)

  4. Somebody at Charouz clearly loved their early 90s F1, but needs to stop picking drivers purely by name. Next up in car 15: Barry Prost.

    1. @bullfrog Ha! Yeah, when I was reading it I was thinking “is it 1st April?”

  5. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    28th July 2022, 1:36

    I got to admit I don’t like Porsche buying into Red Bull. Personal opinion, but I never liked manufacturer teams much – they’re often fickle, walk away when it doesn’t suit them and are so boringly corporate – often lacking personality. I’ve watched ‘favourite’ teams disappear because the manufacturer walked out too many times, or they get taken over and lose their identity completely. ‘Independent’ teams I think are more valuable to F1, though arguably financially less so.

    Also for me, Red Bull, a drinks brand running an F1 operation that can beat global brands like Mercedes/Ferrari is pretty cool. I can go to a shop and buy a can of Red Bull but I’m really unlikely to ever afford a Ferrari. Somehow that makes a difference to me? I’m not sure. They make energy drinks and their cars can beat a company that are built around cars. I find that pretty funny. Personally, I hope Porsche buying in just means a long term tie-up, not a potential buyout in the future to keep Red Bull as Red Bull.

    1. I’m not that concerned about major car manufacturers buying (into) an F1 team. The risks are a lot less nowadays than they were in the past.
      F1 has moved to a sustainable franchise-like structure with the current cost cap and revenue/profit sharing agreements. Thus as long as the teams remain standalone operations (not too integrated with other technology services) then it will be fairly easy to sell a team to other investors when the car company (or drinks company, or investment firm) wants to move on.

      Also for me, Red Bull, a drinks brand running an F1 operation that can beat global brands like Mercedes/Ferrari is pretty cool. I can go to a shop and buy a can of Red Bull but I’m really unlikely to ever afford a Ferrari.

      Personally I prefer Porsche to be on the grid to fight Ferrari, McLaren, Aston Martin and Alpine. But that is probably also due the fact that I am more likely to walk into a shop to buy a Porsche than to buy a Red Bull ;)

    2. They dont build their own engines yet. And also its not like they started from scratch but have employed engineers from other teams etc. Ao its jot like they just arrived with their own car completely designed independently from any car manufacturer and f1 engeneering.

    3. All I can think with Porsche joining is Footwork!

    4. Ferrari is a lot of things but they’ve always actually stuck by F1, even if it’ because it’s important part of their marketing and get well paid for it. Not sure your criticism of fickle manufacturers apply to them.

  6. The 50-50 deal between Redbull and Porche definitely looks a bit unusual, we’ll have to wait and see the make-up of the management and hopefully get some detail of the contracts to see who is the dominant partner.

  7. Is the 50/50 deal a sign that Red Bull are preparing to leave F1 and will sell their 50% to another team like Andretti or some-such?

    1. But it seems Porsche is buying (for now) into Red Bull Technologies Ltd (the company that produces the chassis and which probably owns (or will own) Red Bull Powertrains Ltd).
      I’d guess that Andretti would be most interested in the racing team – Red Bull Racing Ltd.

      1. Ahh that’s different.
        I thought they were just going to be a new engine producer.
        Interesting stuff all the same ;)

      2. According to the documents there are two corporate actions :
        – Creation of a joint enterprise by Porsche and Red Bull for the purpose of building a power unit for Red Bull Technology.
        – The take over by Porsche of 50% stake of Red Bull technology.

      3. Red Bull make a Honda engine under licence. If Porsche were to buy Red Bull (i.e. >50%) then presumably Honda would rescind the licence. As far as I know Porsche don’t make a 1.6 litre V6 engine suitable for F1, but I believe they do make an engine that could be adapted to suit F1.

        1. Redbull don’t make engines. Honda supply Redbulo with the current (re-branded RBPT) engines which are still manufactured in Japan.

    2. No, it’s not.

    3. IfImnotverymuchmistaken
      28th July 2022, 10:44

      I remember reading back when RB and Vettel were winning consecutive championships that their involvement in F1 is worth many hundreds of millions annually (I don’t remember the actual figure, but it was much more than they spent on the F1 team) they would otherwise have to invest in marketing.
      I don’t think Red Bull are quitting F1 any time soon. It’s cheaper for them to stay.

  8. Maybe more, but how much more is another matter & I reckon they’ll eventually finish 4th in the WCC.

    Russell’s theory is interesting & plausible.

    Unacceptable organization post-race.

    The refusal to sign an FC Barcelona shirt is savage.

    I share COTD’s views more or less thoroughly.

    1. To be fair Carlos is a Real fan…. so you can expect this !

    2. Not only the refusal, he said something like the f-word in Italian : Forza Ferrari, c@**o !

  9. Thanks for the COTD :)

    RBR apparently are looking for a long term exit strategy. They are maybe realizing that they will never reach this peak again. From a business standpoint, they want to maximize the Verstappen effect till 2028, monetize as much as possible and then sell the team to Porsche.

    Porsche who want to compete at the forefront of F1 but don’t have the know-how will get hold of arguably the best team in F1. The only question is whether they will capitalize on the 2026 PU rules and build a PU that can compete with Ferrari, Mercedes and probably Honda who are considering to stay in F1.

    On another note, I came up on the news that Sebastian Vettel has finally give up and opened an Instagram account (IG : sebastianvettel). I’ve always liked the fact that someone as famous as Sebastian is not on social media.

    1. well done on the CotD

    2. Not a exit but a continue strategy over a long periode So Red Bull will be continue a long time.

  10. Andy (@andyfromsandy)
    28th July 2022, 11:44

    Porsche have bought a 50% share of one or more companies and not necessarily the actual F1 team part or the powertrains part.

  11. Rebadging as a way of winning is always great… VW group is used to pay to win.

  12. The Porsche buy-in to Red Bull could be a problem. RBR have been a winning team for quite a while now, it’s the structure and key figures who have facilitated great success. What often happens is the group buying in can be quite egotistic, start sticking in their ‘best’ and trying to steer the direction, just because they want to control. We’ve seen with several other teams, the Stroll types come in and remove key players, bring in dead weight with huge egos and effectively fall far behind where the could have been if they weren’t smarter than smart. Like them or not, RBR are a high performance machine and a bad mechanic can break a perfect machine by mis-aligning small parts. Sometimes an entire F1 car can be stopped by a 40 cent part.

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