How close Porsche really came to F1 move

Formula 1's pursuit of a new manufacturer brought a few names to the table. Aston Martin seemed particularly keen. Cosworth has a long history in grand prix racing and joined discussions over the 2021 engine rules.

As it often does, F1 then began to tie itself in knots. Existing manufacturers did not want to simplify the engines and give themselves more work to do if it was not going to entice a new competitor.

Prospective new manufacturers were not prepared to commit because F1 looked like it was not going to simplify the engines. Slowly, the interest of each potential addition to the F1 grid was suffocated. There was no interest more serious - or, perhaps more accurately, at a more advanced stage - than Porsche's.

Encouraged by F1's desire to drive down costs and simplify the engines, Porsche seriously explored the validity of an engine project. In July 2017 it announced it was withdrawing from the World Endurance Championship, where its two-litre turbocharged V4 hybrid engine technology had allowed it to dominate the LMP1 category, and announced it would enter Formula E for the burgeoning all-electric single-seater series' 2019/20 season.

But the prospect of spending just a tenth of its LMP1 budget in FE opened up a new door. Might F1 be possible after all?

Lutz Meschke, deputy chairman of Porsche's executive board and member of the board for finances and IT, met with Ross Brawn and other F1 chiefs at the 2017 Italian Grand Prix. By that time, Porsche had already joined the table discussing the new 2021 engine rules. And, in April of 2017, Porsche had already started working on a six-cylinder engine. Porsche's LMP1 exit had not been defined by this point, but it was important. Fritz Enzinger, now head of Porsche motorsport, says "that decision later led to Formula 1".

"In 2017 there were signals from Formula 1 that the regulations were to be changed and that energy recovery from the exhaust gases [the MGU-H] was no longer required," says Enzinger.

"As of 2017, Porsche was a member of the FIA Manufacturers Commission and was involved in the discussions about the future drive strategy in Formula 1 from 2021 and represented at the meetings.

"On the one hand we took part in these working groups, on the other hand the guys developed a six-cylinder for the WEC in parallel. Of course, we thought about what would have to change if the engine were to be used in Formula 1. Such things can be done in two ways."

By mid-2017, Porsche was heavily engaged in F1 talks and a 40-person team from the LMP1 project was building an engine that would be F1 compatible. That continued despite the decision to withdraw from the WEC, which came when the regulations moved away from Porsche's interests by canning a third energy recovery system and having no higher megajoule class - and the series had failed to find a replacement for Porsche's sister manufacturer Audi, which had already walked, leaving Toyota as sole opposition.

Porsche felt it had the technology and the experience to make a successful move to F1. But the programme would have required much more than that

"It was clear to us that this effort and budget would not pay off against a single competitor," says Enzinger. "That would not have been justifiable."

But apparently F1, which offers a greater return on investment, could be exactly that. The FE project - pictured in testing below - was already committed to, tying in with the fully-electric Porsche Taycan road car that was due to be launched in late-2019. By that point, Porsche was also targeting having its six-cylinder engine ready to test. Enzinger explains that a "concrete order" was received at the end of 2017 "to further develop a highly efficient six-cylinder engine despite the LMP1 withdrawal".

"Not only on paper, but actually as hardware," he says. "And with the idea that this engine will be put to the test in 2019. That was the order from the board to us.

"A Formula 1 engine, as it was planned in between, without exhaust energy recovery, can also be interesting for a super sportscar.

"That's why we got the OK for this research project. The use for this six-cylinder was completely open. If it had been decided to send Porsche 2021 to Formula 1, we would have made it the way we did in 2018."

It is evident that Porsche felt it had the technology and the experience to make a successful move to F1. But the programme would have required much more than that.

Porsche's last effort in F1 came as 3.5-litre V12 engine supplier to the Footwork team in 1991 (pictured below). Compared to the TAG-funded, championship winning McLaren years in the 1980s, it was utterly forgettable. Michele Alboreto and Stefan Johansson qualified five times between them. They registered five retirements: three because of the engine, two because of a throttle problem.

Porsche had also not raced in F1 with its own team since the 1960s and the end of its eight-year (and only) spell in grand prix racing with a works entry. It won a race, the 1962 French Grand Prix with Dan Gurney at the wheel, but times have changed considerably since a Porsche-engined F1 car last rolled onto an F1 grid in 1991.

Despite that, Porsche appeared to remain keen. More than that, in fact. It appeared prepared to meet the required investment.

"Of course, we would have had to drive the personnel up a lot," says Enzinger.

"If the board had said that we had to invest more pressure and more power in the direction of Formula 1, the possibility would have existed at any time. And in addition to this pure engine development, we received the order to prepare a feasibility study for a Formula 1 entry."

The Volkswagen Group had already completed its own study in 2015, and Porsche's in-house research found the V6 engine it was developing to be "absolutely usable". Porsche had taken into account that the technical regulations would change and "the basis for this was the first discussions in the working groups on what the 2021 engine could look like".

Plus, it was able to validate the commitment to the V6 engine being tested on the bench because it doubled as a research project for relevant series production.

Porsche had navigated choppy waters to get to this point, particularly as the dieselgate affair had dogged the Volkswagen Group and directly impacted many existing motorsport programmes. A hybrid-based effort using technologies and experience that already existed within the company would not necessarily have attracted unwanted attention - but the money it would require might do. Especially if Porsche had its own race team as well.

It is hard to blame Porsche for steering clear of a championship that is still struggling to lock down the regulations for a massive overhaul that is just 18 months away

"The diesel issue has been running since 2015 and has cost the Group an enormous amount of money," admits Enzinger.

"Formula 1 is still extremely cost-intensive. Mercedes, for example, builds the engine with 500 people, we built our LMP engine with 40 people. To date, there is no upper budget limit in Formula 1. We know what a Formula 1 race costs and how much it costs to set up a complete team.

"Mercedes has 1200 employees in Brackley and Brixworth alone. That's enormous. The costs are enormous.

"A role as a pure engine supplier would certainly not have been an option for Porsche. If they had, they would have wanted influence on the overall project and the team."

The list of teams that would have been interested in working with Porsche would likely have included every current F1 entry not affiliated with an engine manufacturer already.

Williams enjoyed a technical relationship with Porsche before selling its Hybrid Power division. Red Bull has extensive connections with Porsche's parent company the Volkswagen Group. McLaren's strong history with Porsche through the TAG turbo collaboration of 1983-87 that resulted in F1 success, although that had given way to becoming competitors in the road car market.

These stories never developed because Porsche's interest, great as it was, stalled.

Mercedes pledged to assist any new manufacturer, to try to incentivise one to putting its money where its mouth was. But F1's existing manufacturers thought it odd and unappealing that the MGU-H would be dropped, after great cost and investment from themselves, with no new manufacturer yet committed to the series.

Despite the loss of the MGU-H being communicated by the FIA, Enzinger says that Porsche were only "participants in the meetings, we never promised to get in if this or that was changed". The delay over such changes, plus an internal shift with the Volkswagen Group, killed the prospect of Porsche rejoining the F1 grid - a prospect first discussed as far back as 2015.

"Originally the interest was there because you knew the regulations could change," says Enzinger. "But that was relatively early. With the takeover of Liberty Media and the ideas discussed at that time - simplification, budget ceiling - there were interesting aspects, so at least we wanted to attend the meetings and have a say to get an assessment. That was the right thing to do.

"But there are still no regulations and there will be no major cost savings. The four engine manufacturers that are currently in Formula 1 are of course not interested in changing the regulations in any great way. This will cause them additional costs.

"So I can understand that they want to continue with the current regulations as long as there is no new manufacturer in sight, or only with detail changes. That's the situation at the moment."

It it has hard to blame Porsche for steering clear of a championship that is still struggling to lock down the regulations for a massive overhaul that is just 18 months away. Especially when a much more easily justifiable project in Formula E, or in developing its road-car technology, is much more attainable and will cause far fewer headaches.

Even though Porsche's interest in F1 is long gone, the engine at the heart of its pitch still proved valuable.

"It served us for analysis and further orders with regard to series relevance," says Enzinger. "We're trying to transfer the experience we've had with this engine to series production, 20 to 25 technicians are busy processing the questions."

But that V6 engine, based on engine rules F1 will keep for several years to come, will likely remain nothing more than an in-house project that served in-house purposes. All the potential of Porsche joining the fight against Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault and Honda, and the promise of another works team joining the grid - potentially transforming the fortunes of an existing minnow? - turned to dust.

Porsche lost something in the rubble of its stalled interest, too. For all its success, and its deserved reputation as one of the world's greatest racing manufacturers, Porsche has a very poor record in F1 as a works team: one win, five podiums in 78 starts. The McLaren-TAG years at least add some pride to its F1 story: 25 wins from 68 starts, and three world championships with Niki Lauda and Alain Prost.

F1 missed out on a major addition to the grid, even if it got closer than a lot of people knew. Porsche waved goodbye to a return to the arena it left in embarrassing fashion in 1991.

That the V6 engine was actually built, and the basis of an F1 project still theoretically exists, only serves to twist the knife further. The project could be revived swiftly if Porsche's interest in F1 returned. But...

"Technically yes, but practically not," says Enzinger. "Because today we have a completely different situation in the Group. The orientation of the Volkswagen Group is clearly in the direction of e-mobility. We even compete with two brands in Formula E [Audi and Porsche].

"Formula 1 currently has no place at all in this philosophy. That was never an issue again. The fact that we always observe all series and their development is one of the tasks of the sports bosses, that is imperative.

"But a possible involvement in Formula 1 will no longer be pursued."