WOKING, England — McLaren has spoken to the Volkswagen Group, whose Audi and Porsche brands have been linked with the future Formula One entry, but nothing has been agreed, according to team boss Zak Brown.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has reported that the VW supervisory board will decide at the end of February whether both Audi and the luxury brand Porsche will enter the racing series.
Sources told Reuters late last year that a possible partnership between Audi and McLaren was on the table but had not yet been decided.
“I hear they (Volkswagen) are going to do something with Red Bull on the Porsche front line,” Brown told reporters at the McLaren factory.
“I think they’ve spoken to a handful of people on the starting line-up and as you can imagine we’ve had discussions but in the short and medium term we’re very happy where we are.”
McLaren currently uses engines from Mercedes and Brown said this would not change until a new engine is introduced in 2026.
Red Bull took over Honda’s intellectual property after the Japanese automaker’s exit late last season and is building its own powertrain company.
The agreement with Honda covers the duration of an engine freeze that will run from this year until the sport unveils the next generation of power units.
Brown said McLaren would wait and see if the VW brands decided to take the plunge.
“I think that’s not finally decided yet and if so [enter], we have a contract [with Mercedes] by that term,” he added.
“Obviously we will assess where we are and who is in the sport and make a decision in due course on what we are going to do in 2026.”
