Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto is very positive about the prospect of Audi and Porsche joining the sport. If rumors and multiple reports are to be believed, the Volkswagen Group will be joining F1 in 2026. The regulations will see a drastic change for the season and the group is waiting for it to be finalized to officially announce its participation.
The Ferrari boss was questioned whether there was any resistance from the manufacturers when it came to new brands joining the sport. Binotto referred such suggestions and said that, on the contrary, Ferrari was very positive about the introduction of new manufacturers to the sport.
According to @joesaward a rumor in the F1 paddock these days has been the suggestion that BMW and McLaren could be joining forces, bringing the Munich firm back to F1 in order to compete with rivals Mercedes, Porsche, and Audi.
Binotto spoke about the regulations surrounding the Volkswagen Group’s introduction to F1:
“I didn’t hear those rumours, but we are very positive [about] Audi and Porsche joining F1. We are very positive because it’s great for F1. It’s great having more manufacturers and it’s great to have the Volkswagen Group within our business and our F1 racing championship.”
He detailed circumstances concerning the MGU-H that’ll be affecting Ferrari:
“I think we’ve done whatever we could and tried to adapt to make sure that [Audi and Porsche] were happy. We removed the MGU-H and we did it only to try to help them join F1, and believe that, for us, removing the H is something which is not maybe the best choice.”
The team principal further opened up about the future of the technology:
“It’s a technology that we know pretty well, it’s a very high-efficiency technology, which is great for F1, so I think that overall, again, we are very positive and constructive. Why is it taking so long? Because I think it’s time which is required to do things properly and, simply, we are not ready right now. There are still open points and those open points need to be tackled and discussed and agreed.”
Unlike Ferrari, Mercedes warns against any further delays
While Ferrari is on board with the VW group joining F1, Mercedes has its reservations about the way the group has been approaching its entry. Toto Wolff pointed out that the group has been sitting at the table for a while now but has still not made the required commitment.
“There’s not much to add to what Mattia said. On the contrary, we don’t want to delay those regulations. We want to have it in place. This is an environment where regulations will change all the time, so you can’t make it regulation dependent.” “It’s something that we can expect from them also, because we’ve made big steps towards them. Let’s make those final steps. It’s more the detail and it doesn’t matter. We discussed 50 dyno hours up and down for newcomers, but we’d like to have them [as] part of the show. They’ve been sitting on the table negotiating those regulations [for] a while, but not committed yet.”
Porsche is expected to join the grid alongside Red Bull while Audi is hoping to buy a team on the grid to set up a complete works operation.
Edited by nicolaas.ackermann12
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