Porsche in Formula 1?

Im just not sure porsche could afford the appearance of losing... or struglling or not knowing what they are doing etc... bascially blundering like others have related to mclaren honda.

Honda is still going to sell the same amount of cars... as is mclaren...

Porsche might take a bit of a wack on the nose for it... or a bruised eye if you will. I am not sure they will sell less cars... I just think they can't afford... nor risk an image crisis. To fickle of a buyer

 

They have nothing to gain by joining F1. They still sell a ridiculous amount of cars and SUVs at whatever they want to charge. The brand is no longer about racing...it's merely a luxury performance brand and a good one at that. SUVs and all.

I don't get why Mercedes came back to F1...sure they've been winning recently, but what does it do for their brand? I doubt it affects car sales at all. They are directly making money from it, though, but that was a huge risk making an F1 team to directly profit off of it.

 

When you are winning, as Mercedes is, motor racing is good advertising.

I am sure Mercedes reached a new audience going back to F1.

Have you noticed how their range has more entry-level models to attract a new generation of buyers?

In their case, the F1 effort has paid off; I am not sure it would add much to Porsche though.

 

Maybe in Europe or elsewhere, but nothing has noticeably changed for Mercedes here. Only one person among my work colleagues and friends know who Lewis Hamilton is and only because of instagram (to see his playboy lifestyle, not racing). They all watch soccer oddly enough and know the big names overseas for that.

 

In Europe certainly.

Obviously it's difficult to capture an audience from people more interested in ball games than motor racing.

But among the young car nuts, Mercedes is a new proposition. Before, only middle class folks like lawyers, doctors and middle management were interested in Mercedes.

 

At the moment, the Porsche fan base, and its customers, are into sports cars and GT.
I don't know if they will follow the Stuttgart company into F1.

Porsche has a huge following in the many GT championships here in Europe; each European country has its own Porsche Cup, for example, there are also many GT championships full of Porsche on the grid: WdeV, VLN, Blancpain, Open GT, British GT, German GT, etc...

I cannot see the Porsche followers deserting this to follow F1, where they would -at most- attend 1 or 2 GP a year, compared to a whole championship.

 

They should come as a complete works team Engine and chassis

 

But LMP1 was sports cars, F1 isn't !! It's chalk and cheese...

It's a completely different audience.

What I am saying is that Porsche fans will not necessarily be interested in open wheels, even less F1.

Beside, there are so many restrictions in F1, that I cannot see how the Porsche DNA would be preserved.

 

That would be the best way to have complete control, but I think they would do what MB and BMW did with F1. Start out as an engine supplier and then buy a team already up and running and make both chassis and engine. BMW should've bought a team in the UK rather than Sauber in the middle of nowhere (F1-wise) Switzerland...too hard to recruit talent that already is wanting to stay in Motorsport Valley. Same reason Toyota failed imo being out in Cologne, Germany.

 

I think fans will have fun I mean honestly who doesn't want to see Porsche, Ferrari, and Mercedes battle it out for both championships? It'll probably give a sport gain of a fan base to see three of the most iconic brands go full force at each other. Especially Porsche and Mercedes will be more like VW/Audi vs Mercedes so we have two Germans who will be more than happy to one up each other. I think if Porsche adopts that proves Porsche is the best of the best in a ruthless competition like F1.

 

Very True - UK is the best place for an F1 team to be based from.
There were calls even for Ferrari to move to UK
Ferrari against calls for UK base for F1 team | GRAND PRIX 247

 

At one point in Ferrari's history petty much most of the chassis was built in Britain. It was in 1980s when Enzo Ferrari was still alive. There's even interview of Enzo Ferrari of him mentioning that. As it turned out you didn't need that for Ferrari to be back. No all you needed was a certain German driver named Michael Schumacher with a certain staff employed at Ferrari to kick Ferrari into contention and eventually back into glory.
Edit: it mentions it in the article. I think he's right honestly. What the team needs is to be patience like in the late 1990s Schmarcher period so that they can developed a car that be a frontline runner.

 

*wrong thread*

 

I think it's too much..for a team who leaves WEC due to financial problems (not Porsche) and the dieselgate scandal to thinking if they're going to compete in one of the most expensive car championships...

It sounds me not accurate and at this moment...impossible.

However IIRC the whole 'Porsche thinking the F1 return' rumor is around 5+ years..

 

I couldn't see them coming as a constructor but rather an engine supplier. They'd be right up there with what Merc HPE is able to do. Porsche today is at a very high technical level.

 

True. That lucky team would probably have a quasi-sponsorship deal with them or at least free engines.

 

Porsche already has an F1 engine in the works!

Porsche already has an F1 engine in the works!

The next step for Porsche is a high-efficiency F1 engine

The next step for Porsche is a high-efficiency F1 engine

 

+1000

 

They left sports cars because it was too expensive... If they enter F1 they´re gonna know what really means EXPENSIVE.

 

Yep, that's how I see it too.

 

I think they left sports cars for 2 reasons:

- There wasn't enough competition to justify the outlay.

- They couldn't sell the LMP1 to recoup the development costs of their hybrid car, like they did previously with most of their cars: 904, 906, 910, 917, 935, 936, 962, etc ...

In F1, that would be a different proposition if Porsche came as supplier as opposed to a team: there would be competition, and a commercial incentive.

 

Porcshe won't bring any value to f.1, and f.1 won't do nothing for them...they don't belong there....i don't see it happen.