Porsche has admitted that Formula 1 “remains an interesting racing series for us” despite talks to re-enter the series from the 2026 season breaking down last year.
The German marque has not been involved in F1 since a disastrous stint as an engine supplier to the independent Footwork squad in 1991 ended after only a solitary season.
However, the Volkswagen Group member was prepared to venture back into the championship along with sister brand Audi upon an overhaul to the engine regulations.
But while Audi agreed to assemble its own power unit and secured a takeover of the Sauber team, Porsche’s plans to partner with Red Bull concluded without an agreement.
The prospective talks with the Austrian outfit were scuppered due to Porsche wanting a 50% share in the company that also involved its brand-new Red Bull Powertrains division.
After tentative discussions with McLaren were also held and subsequently collapsed, Porsche announced last March that it would not be accompanying Audi into F1 in 2026.
Nevertheless, the automotive’s interest in F1 has remained, with the company’s director of motorsport sales Michael Dreiser now reaffirming that to Blackbook Motorsport.
“Motorsport will always be at the core of our brand identity,” Dreiser said. “Formula 1 remains an interesting racing series for us.
“For the next few years, we are concentrating on the current factory programmes with the Porsche 963 in WEC and the IMSA series, as well as in Formula E with the Porsche 99X Electric.
“There, we want to fight for overall victories. That is our tradition and our main focus, and we do not comment on speculation beyond that,” he added.
Prior to that hugely unsuccessful standalone year as an engine supplier in the 1990s, Porsche was active in F1 between 1957 and 1964, securing one victory and five podiums.
While Porsche withdrew at the end of that campaign due to rising costs, it returned in 1983 to produce V6 water-cooled turbo-engines for McLaren branded as TAG-Heuer.
However, Porsche elected to exit F1 once more amid the refusal to allocate extra resources to develop a qualifying engine mode at the request of McLaren’s drivers.
Porsche currently competes in top-level endurance racing with its 963 prototype in the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar series. The brand runs work entries in collaboration with Penske, along with supplying several customer teams in both of those series.
Elsewhere, the squad also runs its own Formula E team and powers the Andretti side which guided Jake Dennis to the Drivers’ Championship last season.
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