Rumors revenge: VW to purchase Red Bull as 2018 full works entrant...

Hmmmmmmmm....

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Volkswagen is closing in on a deal to purchase the Red Bull Formula One team to enter as a full works entry with VW power units in 2018, per BBC Sport. We’ve all been wondering why the Volkswagen Group keeps hiring personnel from Formula One, and I guess now we know.

BBC F1 pundit Eddie Jordan says that the Red Bull team will likely use Ferrari engines in the interim until Volkswagen can develop its own power unit. Red Bull, too, would remain as a major sponsor of the team.

Of the Volkswagen brands, Audi is still considered the one most likely to be on a F1 entry.

Red Bull will split with current power unit supplier Renault after this year after their miserable performance in 2015. This somewhat put the team into limbo, given that Red Bull has been the de facto works entry for Renault over the past few years.

According to BBC Sport, Volkswagen board chairman Martin Winterkorn has already agreed with team boss Dietrich Mateschitz and Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko to purchase the team. Former Volkswagen Group chairman Ferdinand Piech was against the idea of going into Formula One, however, he resigned in April.

Team principal Christian Horner has publicly denied that anything is going on between the two brands, however, in Formula One, denial is the number one sign of guilt.

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Volkswagen Close To Purchasing Red Bull Formula One Team: Report

 

Very interesting.

 

Hmmmmm indeed!......

Significant, maybe?;

New broom, new attitude towards it?

Cheers,
Ian

 

If they're going to do it...it's going to be huge.

 

That's what they said of Honda.......

Cheers,
Ian

 

rather see Porsche as the brand, but ok...F1 will need someone to bring another PU pretty quickly here, rather it was independent, but at least it's another one to the party.

 

Would *love* to see it happen though....... We could have a true "PU war" on our hands! [No salary caps for them. ]

Cheers,
Ian

 

Make Lamborghini the brand.

Audi, VW...bleh.

 

I thought F1 was dying though?

 

If Renault, Lotus and RB all pull out, I think it would be safe to say F1 is dead.

 

There's been "doomsdayers" around the sport ever since I've been following it.....

Sometimes they whisper, others they yell, it's all cyclical IMO.

F1 just keeps making more money. [For some anyway. ]

Cheers,
Ian

 

I beg to differ. In the *very* unlikely event that were to happen, as others have said, Bernie would wave his magic wand......

Remember though that many (if not most?) GP's over the years were run with 16 or less cars.

IIRC, Bernie commits to 18, but it may be 16, to the TV guys. They'd also all get a larger slice of the pie of course.

F1 is a *long* way from dead IMO.

Cheers,
Ian

 

RB chassis + Audi/Porsche PU + Ricciardo would be a fantastic rivalry to MB. Hope it happens.

 

.

 

LOL

Gloating over the annual VW to F1 rumor?

 

Is 2018 the begining of a new set of rules?

Otherwise, it's pretty pointless for VW to join half way through an existing formula when the competition has several years of experience.

 

New rules in 17 I believe if they every finalize anything.

I sure hope they do, the current formula is laughable.

 

Mercedes against Auto Union seems to ring a bell ...

 

The VW in F1 rumours again...

But with Porsche already winning at sports cars, it doesn´t make much sense keeping Audi there too. On the other hand, it wouldn´t be the first time that the VW group races with two or more of their brands in the same championship (SEAT and Skoda in rallyes, Porsche-Audi-Bentley-Lamborghini at GTs...)

 

It is dead as a sport.

Now F1 is just show-business managed by cynical individuals.

F1 is mostly gossips nowadays...

 

16? Please clarify. As long as i'm following F1 (from 1979) I cannot recall a field of 16. Run, maybe after some retirements during the races but never started ( Except the infamous USA GP)

 

Fast_ian thinks F1 is in a healthy state. I don't think it is.

The present format is for 24 cars on the grid. Now there are only 20. Out of 10 teams, 4 are struggling and heavily in debts.

I remember the time when up to 36 cars were entered in some GPs, and pre-qualifications were necessary to select 24 participants.

 

Look from the "beginnings" of the championship (post-war) up until 1979........

Of note, they allowed some complete **** to compete on occasion too! Even before Bernie......

Cheers,
Ian

 

VW should buy Red Bull and lay out for 2016, and maybe 2017, to force changes that are favorable to it.