‘Red Bull and Porsche close to F1 engine deal’

There have been rumors for a while about the Volkswagen Group as an engine supplier in Formula 1. For example, McLaren might even be taken over entirely by Audi and the F1 team will receive F1 engines branded as Audi by 2026. Red Bull Racing would start from that year. to use those same engines under the Porsche name. Something about the latter is now coming out again. According to The Telegraph sources around Red Bull Racing indicate that a deal with Porsche is almost in cans.

The generally knowledgeable Motorsport total makes it a bit more specific. That states that Red Bull Racing and Porsche may already announce a deal next month. The agreement would already be on the table, but the regulators of the Volkswagen Group would have to give it one last blow.

With such an agreement, a Porsche V6 will be placed in the back of the Red Bull as of 2026. A 1.6 turbo engine that receives electrical assistance from an MGU-K, a Engine Generator Unit it gains energy from kinetic energy (braking) and can then deliver it to the drivetrain as extra power. The complex MGU-H (heat to energy) that still belongs to it until 2026 will disappear. That makes the engines a lot cheaper to develop and that would be an important condition for the Volkswagen Group, among others, to join F1. The Volkswagen Group has been involved in talks with the motorsport federation FIA for some time about the new engine regulations, which were finalized last year.

Red Bull Racing currently still uses Honda engines and will do so until 2025. However, a separate engine division, Red Bull Powertrains, has been set up because Honda would initially transfer the construction of the engines to Red Bull. Red Bull Powertrains can cooperate with the Germans on the new power source in a deal with Porsche.