Porsche will buy 50 per cent of Red Bull’s Formula 1 operation ahead of its intended entry into the sport as an engine manufacturer in 2026.
The German sports car manufacturer’s entry into F1 is yet to be formally announced, but legal documents published by Morocco’s competition regulator have revealed the two companies intend to unite under a 10-year agreement.
The deal comes in two parts. The first is the creation of a join venture between Red Bull and Porsche to create a new power unit. The second is Porsche’s acquisition of 50 per cent of Red Bull Technology, which is the company that supplies Red Bull Racing with its complete cars and sister team AlphaTauri with some permissible shared parts.
Autosport reports that Porsche will also take an equal share in Red Bull Racing, the grand prix team itself.
Red Bull Powertrains, the engine-building arm of Red Bull’s racing operation, is situated on the Red Bull Technology campus in Milton Keynes and is equipped to develop and build Porsche’s first turbo-hybrid Formula 1 power unit.
AlphaTauri will remain solely under Red Bull ownership while almost certainly adopting the Porsche powertrain, per Autosport.
Porsche and Red Bull had hoped to confirm their partnership at the energy drink company’s home Austrian Grand Prix earlier this month, but the FIA World Motorsport Council failed to agree on the new engine rules for 2026 as expected at its end-June meeting.
Despite signalling its intention to join the sport, Porsche parent company Volkswagen has insisted it won’t formalise the move before the engine rules are published.
The FIA says it expects to have the regulations finalised before October, with confirmation likely in the next month.
Porsche and Red Bull are expected to make their intention to unite official in the coming weeks.
Volkswagen stablemate Audi is also expected to join the sport as both a constructor and engine builder, but it intends to buy an existing team rather than start from scratch.
Ingolstadt attempted to negotiate with McLaren, which ultimately decided it wasn’t for sale, and Aston Martin CEO Lawrence Stroll said earlier this year that he had also entertained approaches from the brand, though said he was happy with his collaboration with Mercedes, which extends to the road car business as well as the F1 team.
Audi is understood to be negotiating with the Sauber team, currently branded Alfa Romeo, for a controlling stake or the entire operation, and it will subsequently develop its power unit in-house.
The 2026 power unit rules are yet to be agreed, but changes to the current formula have been extensively ventilated. The new motor will be based on the same turbocharged 1.6-litre internal combustion engine but will lack the technically complex MGU-H, which converts heat into electrical energy.
In its place will be a beefed-up MGU-K, which will see electrical power rise to 350kW, or approximately half of the power unit’s total output.
The engine will also be powered by a bespoke 100 per cent sustainable fuel as part of the sport’s push to be carbon neutral by 2030.
Red Bull currently leads Ferrari in the constructors standings by 82 points. Max Verstappen heads Charles Leclerc by 63 points.
