Porsche and Audi had been on the verge of entering F1, and now Reuters reports it’s been confirmed by the VW CEO Herbert Deiss. What’s more, Deiss also suggested that Stuttgart’s plans to join Formula One were at a more advanced stage than Audi’s.
The move comes after months of rumours, and the reasoning behind it seems to have become relatively simple; joining F1 would bring in more money than it used. According too Diess, the entire process had created divisions within the VW Group, but when combined with the financial arguments – and the fact that both brands are as important as the Group’s chinese business – there was no other conclusion. ‘You just run out of arguments,’ Diess told Reuters.
Finally!
The latest intel suggested that Audi has contacted Mumtalakat, the Bahranian government’s sovereign wealth fund, and initially offered €450m to buy McLaren’s F1 division. But that sum has since increased to around €650m in order for the German brand to get access to the biggest motorsport in the business. The Bahranian state holding is said to have four weeks to reply to the offer.
Even so, Auto News Europe via Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has quoted McLaren F1 team boss saying: ‘I am hearing they [Volkswagen] are going to do something with Red Bull on the Porsche front. I think they have spoken with a handful of people on the grid and as you would imagine we have had conversations but in the short term and medium term we are very happy where we are.’
The news comes not long after a new report from Reuters that suggests the VW board could give them green light later on in April 2022. ‘We will hopefully be able to communicate our intention to enter into Formula One then,’ one of the sources told Reuters, with a further source telling the outlet there was a ‘good chance’ of a positive decision.
Either way, the deal is now done.
Read the full story here: https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-news/industry-news/mclaren/bmw-and-audi-in-bidding-war-for-mclaren/