Volkswagen’s Audi and British McLaren are in early talks about a deal that would bring the German automaker back into Formula 1, according to several people familiar with the situation.
VW is exploring using the British supercar group’s racing arm to bring its premium brand to the sport, as part of a wider effort to get back into F1.
The talks are at a very early stage, with few concrete details and due diligence that is not expected until the beginning of next year, said two people familiar with the talks.
VW is considering having two branded F1 teams run by its Porsche and Audi arms respectively that could pool some of their technologies, one person said.
That deal could also mean VW selling its technology to other teams to cut capital costs, just as Mercedes-Benz supplies engines for Williams.
The group’s re-entry into Formula 1, however, depends on whether the governing body of the sport, the FIA, enforces rule changes that require cars to be semi-electric and run on sustainable fuels by the middle of the decade, two people who with the matter said.
While Audi’s motorsport arm has focused on Le Mans, the electric Formula E series and rally racing, VW colleagues Porsche and Lamborghini have a certain background in F1.
Porsche last competed in Formula 1 in the 1960s, while Lamborghini withdrew from the sport before being taken over by VW in the late 1990s.
The former leader of the German group, Ferdinand Piëch, is known to have had a bitter relationship with Bernie Ecclestone from Formula 1, which stood in the way of VW’s return to sport.
But an agreement that Audi take control of McLaren’s racing division, if so agreed, isn’t an easy deal.
The McLaren Group, controlled by the Bahraini sovereign wealth fund, mainly manufactures super sports cars that compete with the Lamborghini brands from VW and Ferrari.
Last year, as part of an agreement to relieve the company’s finances, the F1 team was spun off from the company as a whole into a separate entity controlled by the McLaren Group in the midst of the pandemic.
Last December, McLaren’s racing division was valued at £ 560 million in a transaction with US investment group MSP Sports Capital, which initially took over a 15 percent stake, which it plans to increase to 33 percent by the end of next year.
The McLaren Group said, “McLaren’s technology strategy involved ongoing discussion and collaboration with relevant partners and suppliers, including other automobile manufacturers.”
McLaren Group said a previous report that Audi agreed to a purchase agreement was “completely inaccurate,” adding, “The ownership structure of the McLaren Group has not changed.”
McLaren has close ties with BMW, which supplies the plug-in hybrid technology for its new Artura supercar, and the two are jointly investing in battery research.
Audi, which is headed by Markus Duesmann, who once worked for the Formula 1 teams of BMW and Mercedes, said in a statement on Monday: “We are constantly reviewing various cooperation ideas as part of our strategic considerations,” but declined to comment an approach to McLaren.
Porsche should consider a partnership with Red Bull, which will part ways with the engine supplier Honda at the end of the season.
In March, Porsche boss Oliver Blume confirmed that the VW Group is “considering whether entering Formula 1 would be ‘attractive’ for us”. But he added that “no decision has been made yet”.
Additional reporting from Samuel Agini in London
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