25/02/2016
NEWS STORY
For as long as anyone can remember, Volkswagen, along with the various car brands that form the VW Group - brands which include Porsche, Audi, Bugatti, Lamborghini and Bentley - have been linked with F1.
In April last year the shock departure Ferdinand Piech, grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, following a boardroom battle with Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn, kick-started the rumour mill yet again, Piech having been a long-term critic - to put it mildly - of Bernie Ecclestone.
Already enjoying a strong sporting presence with Audi and Porsche in WEC, Bentley and Lamborghini in GT Racing and VW itself in WRC, F3 and Rallycross, F1 seemed the obvious next move.
Previously, in 2012, Wolfgang Durheimer, head of Bentley, Bugatti and Motorsport within the VW Group, had said he was keen to see the company in F1 admitting involvement in the sport was vital for planned sales in the American, Asian and Middle Eastern markets.
Durheimer, who previously headed Porsche, which, following a brief flirtation with F1 in the early 60s which included a win for Dan Gurney in the 1962 French Grand Prix, and which subsequently enjoyed success in the 1980s with McLaren, securing three drivers and two constructors' titles with the Woking team, said that "F1 has the most relevance and dominates motor sport in Europe and Asia".
Weeks after Piech's departure, Audi chief executive Rupert Stadler admitted that F1 was an option. Weeks later however, as Red Bull's search for an engine partner intensified, and just ahead of the emissions scandal that was to wipe billions of the value of the VW Group, asked if Volkswagen might be the solution to Red Bull's problems, Stadler told German daily Handelsblatt, "Formula One should solve its own problems".
Christian Horner subsequently confirmed that there had been talks with VW, but then came the emissions scandal.
"There has been discussion with the VW Group which obviously, with their current issues probably Formula One is the last thing on their mind," said the Briton.
Last month, the final nail in the 'VW to F1 coffin' rumour mill appeared to have been hammered in, when Jost Capito, Volkswagen's Director of Motorsport, was appointed Chief Executive Officer of McLaren Racing.
Yesterday, Wolfgang Dürheimer confirmed that not only is the VW Group not looking at F1, he explained why, and it is something fans will empathise with.
"Formula 1 is not on our agenda right now," he told Autocar. "The situation is not predictable enough to make the kind of investment required."
He also pointed to the instability of the series ownership, following months of speculation that the sport might be floated on the stock market or merely sold on.
"Before you commit the kind of money needed you must see five years of rules stability," he said, "there can't be the possibility of rules changes, of more or less engine cylinders coming in, or the hybrid system changing away from technology you are developing on road cars."
And that's before he heard about the revised qualifying format and 'driver of the day' nonsense.