Porsche future in F1 ?

Porsche's announcement that it is quitting the WEC to join Formula E in 2019 is part of a "new strategy and realignment" of the company's motorsport programmes. And while the FIA and Formula E can be happy to have landed both Mercedes and Porsche, it is expected in F1 circles that another shoe is yet to drop. Porsche will quit the FIA World Endurance Championship's LMP1 class at the end of this season, but the signs are that the ultimate goal is not to rely only on Formula E and that Porsche's next stop will be an F1 deal.

The company already has all the technology required to create a current F1 engine and while it is unlikely to win anything before the new F1 rules come into place in 2021, there is a very obvious strategy which it could take to be in a great position for the next F1 era.

The word in Budapest was that Porsche will come to F1 - perhaps with other VW brands following as well - and that the obvious deal would be to go into partnership with an established team, in order to avoid having to invest in expensive chassis technology and infrastructure.

While it is assumed by most people that this would involve a deal with Red Bull Racing, it is much more likely that Porsche will go to a team which is a little bit more manufacturer-friendly. Red Bull is still suffering from having fallen out with Renault and, in any case, it has embarked on a road car programme with Aston Martin road car programmes. McLaren has its own agenda with engines and Sauber and Toro Rosso are in the wrong places. Haas is a Ferrari satellite.

Force India might be a possible partner, but while it has a great group of engineers it needs a huge amount of capital investment, all of this means that the best available choice is clearly Williams F1, not only because the team has a great heritage and decent facilities, but also because it needs a manufacturer to get it back to winning, which a customer Mercedes engine deal will not do.

There are several other elements that make Williams the obvious choice, not least the fact that it is sponsored by Porsche's traditional motorsport partner Martini & Rossi and the various brands fit very neatly together. The Martini Porsche relationship goes back nearly 50 years and is a brand that is instantly recognised outside the confines of F1. This began in 1969 with a pair of Martini-sponsored Porsche 907s. The following year Martini sponsored the Porsche factory team, leading to Le Mans victories in 1971, 1976 and 1977 with the 917 and with a string of other successes with 911s (above) and other models. A Martini Porsche won the Targa Florio in 1973 and the two companies were even associated in rallying in 1978.

Williams is also a company that is listed on the stock exchange in Germany, which means that the potential for a full takeover of the Williams group exists, if the family wants to sell out to Porsche at some point in the future. That is not likely to happen until Sir Frank Williams is no longer around, but it would provide the family with an exit strategy from F1 and Porsche might like to add the firm to its portfolio, particularly with regard to its advanced engineering capabilities. This need not all happen tomorrow, but there is a great deal of long term logic in such a relationship.

While car manufacturers are pushing towards fully electric cars, they know that hybrid technology is still going to be their major source of sales in the mid term and so running concurrent Formula E and Formula 1 programmes makes sense, if the Formula 1 engine rules are cheaper than is currently the case. This is clearly the goal being discussed at the moment.