– It has been almost exactly four years since, in late summer 2022, one of the most spectacular joint ventures the Formula 1 has ever seen fell apart: Red Bull and Porsche had agreed to make Grand Prix sport together – before Red Bull pulled out at the very last minute of the negotiation marathon.
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Since then, the people involved have rarely spoken publicly about the failed mega deal. But Fritz Enzinger, who at the time was both head of Porsche Motorsport and the Volkswagen Group’s motorsport division, has now confirmed in an interview at the members’ regulars’ table on the YouTube channel of Formel1.de (recorded on July 29, 2026) how far advanced the negotiations were back then.
Enzinger says there was already “a handshake between Oliver Blume and Didi Mateschitz,” the top CEOs on the Porsche and Red Bull sides. And he confirms stories from that time that even the release of a joint press statement was planned: “It is true that for Spielberg or the race after, it was planned to go public.”
In his perception, the public announcement was delayed because “there were still a few points in the regulations that were not quite clarified. It was clear that if you commit, you enter Formula 1,” then it would have been difficult to enforce the rule changes desired by Porsche or Volkswagen in the powertrain area. “Because of that, they simply left some room and said: ‘Okay, then we’ll wait for the next race.'”
Not Porsche, but Red Bull suddenly didn’t want to anymore …
But the announcement was not only delayed – ultimately, it never happened at all. Enzinger recalls the decisive days as a “shift” at Red Bull, “and the entry simply did not happen.”
Enzinger does not want to speculate on the reasons for Red Bull’s change of mind. The fact is, “Didi Mateschitz was already very, very ill,” and negotiations had to be conducted not only with the 49 Austrian percent within Red Bull GmbH but also with the Thai majority owners. “And then the switch simply happened,” he recalls.
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Rumors that Porsche had also negotiated with other teams at the time are dismissed by Enzinger as fiction: “Porsche only ever spoke with Red Bull during that phase. […] The constellation was unique, and because of that, they were so focused on it that they actually did not hold parallel talks. […] From Porsche’s side, there was really only the goal of entering Formula 1 with Red Bull.”
A letter of intent between the two parties had already been signed before the failure and went far beyond the delivery of the powertrain in its architecture. Porsche planned to deliver the power unit to Milton Keynes – and to take over 50 percent of Red Bull’s Formula 1 operation. In a “partnership on equal footing,” as it was described externally at the time.
Enzinger: Good that only one VW brand is in Formula 1
Ultimately, the Volkswagen Group did not send both of the brands considered into Formula 1, but only Audi: The Ingolstadt brand with the iconic four rings took over the Swiss Sauber team, which has been competing as the Audi factory team in the World Championship since 2026 with Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto.
As much as Enzinger wished at the time to bring “his” brand Porsche into Formula 1 with Red Bull, he now believes with four years’ distance that the failure also had something good: “In hindsight, seeing how difficult the situation in the automotive industry is now, I think it is also good that it failed. Good that Audi is involved, a brand from the group. But I really find it very, very hard to imagine that two brands would have been possible.”
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By the way: On the YouTube channel of Formel1.de, three copies of the book “Grand Prix Stories – Behind the Scenes of Formula 1” are currently being raffled, all signed by Fritz Enzinger and author Christian Nimmervoll. The book dedicates a whole chapter to the review of the Red Bull-Porsche billion-dollar deal. ()
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