Will Porsche EVER come back to F1? It’s a lot of fun watching cars that look like ours race in the Rolex Series. However, I’d also like to see Porsche make a commitment to the pinnacle of racing. I think that making a commitment to F1 is like putting you $ where your mouth is.

Here is a very interesting thread I found on the subject but its kind of old. 7/2003 was the last post in the thread. Is there any more recent news?

https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...ula+one+return

I don't want to hear that Porsche doesn’t have the $, or Ferrari gets so much $ from merchandising and Fiat. Porsche could get round up sponsorship $ and if they were serious. If they were racing they would definitely make $ on official merchandise. I'd love to wear a Porsche F1 cap as opposed to my Williams F1 Montoya cap (my fav cap BTW).

Technology is advancing so quickly that it seems like the longer Porsche stays away, the tougher it will be to come back and be competitive. Not to mention the lack of F1 technology transcending to our cars. I’m not implying that our cars aren’t technologically advanced, race inspired, or race proven. We all know that they are. Porsche just won’t go to the highest level to put their technology to the test.

Maybe it’s the clientele dictating Porsche’s actions. Are the P-Car purists holding the company back? Are the P-car purists so resistant to change that Porsche AG is hesitant to push the envelope too far so as not to hurt sales or values? Look at the 993 vs. the 996 as an example. The 996 seems to be the most radical styling change in a long time. It seems quite clear that the purists didn’t like it. I do, but I’m biased. Even with the 996 being a much better performer on paper it’s still not as loved as the 993. Sinking 996 values is supporting proof. Is it because of the switch to a water cooled engine? The 997 seams to be an attempt (styling wise) to please the old school guys clinging to classic styling. Don’t get me wrong I love the 993s as well as all of the older P-Cars. I ‘m not at all suggesting that we let go of the great P-Car heritage, I am suggesting that we embrace change. Radical change! Isn’t that what has made all of us as successful as we are to be able to afford these cars? Those who are able to adapt to change are successful. Those who are able to anticipate change are leaders of their field. Those who affect change and get others to follow leave their mark forever.

I think I’ve rambled enough. Take everything I write with a grain of salt, keeping in mind that I’m a newbie to the P-Car world. I just like asking questions and provoking thought. Even my own.

Well, put another notch the win column for Ferrari in the mean time.

Happy driving.

 

I'm no expert, but I'm of the opinion that Porsche will never (in our lifetime) become involved in F1. For them their would be no return on their huge investment.

 

I agree that I would love to see them in F1 but I don’t see it as being practical.

I believe this has a lot to do with how much technology they would be able to apply to their road cars. For the most part I think that it would be very limited and racing in F1 is a HUGELY expensive proposition.

I don’t have exact figures but I believe most top drivers are paid $5-$9m each and that you will need a racing budget of at least $150m and top teams nearer $500m. To put it in perspective I heard that to join this elite group Toyota had to pay $48m to get in the series.

So, assuming that they lay out $500m per year it would not seem unreasonable to expect a substantial return on that in terms of technology that can be applied to cars that they sell.

By comparison, sports car racing is pretty cheap and provides things that can actually be used on road going cars.

It’s a bit like Ducati that refused to race in Moto GP while it used engine layouts (two-stroke) that could not be sold in most countries. Once the rules changed they made their move – perhaps something similar will happen with Porsche and F1. We can only hope…

 

houldsworth1

I agree with your perspective. I think Ferrari did some transference of its F1 knowledge when they built the Enzo. This however is a very limited production car with over a million dollar price tag. I wouldn't mind seeing Porsche get involved in the Le Mans race again, and do battle against the Audi prototype.

 

I would rather see Porsche back with a prototype in Le Mans, my favorite race by a mile. I was a big fan of F1 back in the Andretti and Lauda years, but have largely lost interest in it now.

As a club racer, I was sickened to watch Ralf sit in the main straightaway injured while he waited two minutes for help to arrive. With all of Bernie's F1 money, you would think he could afford a second doctor and Mercedes stationed somewhere on the backside of the course.

Steve
99 996
76 930
64 356C

 

Yes, the Le Mans series would be fantastic. I remember being at Le Mans in the late 80’s and early 90’s watching the Jaguar’s fight against the Mercedes cars (I was routing for the Jags being a Brit) and thoroughly enjoying it.

I was even happy when Mazda won it because they had been trying so hard and taking a very different approach – the sound those cars made as they went by set the hair on the back of your neck on end.

Best of all I think that this could be done with relatively low investment (certainly compared to F1) and would provide a real test bed for new technology since the cars have to run long distances instead of the sprint races in the F1 series.

Ultimately though we have to remember that this is a company that is a car manufacturer and not a company that has been put together to race cars. I am sure that there are plenty of enthusiasts in the group and here’s hoping that they get a shot at something worthwhile in the future.

Barry

 

Porsche in F1 is a long shot and not likely. The most we could hope for would be for Porsche to build an engine and supply it to a team. It would have to be a similar situation as BMW has with Williams. Unfortunately there is no team in F1 in need of an engine with a decent chassis (well McLaren is need of an engine but their MB contract is not up and right now their chassis sucks).

Porsche just does not have the resources to run their own team. F1 chassis and aerodynamic design and development is far to specialized for a company of Porsche size to take on without hiring a lot of outside personal. Toyota is a good example. Toyota is rumored to have the largest budget in F1 for the last 3 years and they are not even remotely competitive. To get any return on investment in F1 Porsche would have to be successful and without the right team they are not going to be able to be even competitive.

Another thing to consider is Porsche is so focused on the North American market they want some type of racing for good exposure in NA. Unfortunately F1 does not have a strong following. The same problem can be pointed to at the LeMans style road racing. I really enjoy both but I seem to be in the minority here. However with LeMans at least the cost would be substantially less than F1. Additionally there are more races in the NA.

Like the original poster I too would like to see Porsche get back into the prototype racing. It would seem like the right time to make the jump as Audi is essentially ramping down the factory support and development of the R8.

 

and once in the ambulance, they still had to make a full-circuit before coming off the track (appalling). someone is out of a job this morning.

 

Looks as though F-1 needs to take note how the CART (OWRS) safety crew does things. They are at the scene before fluids (oil and water) start to run down the track. Hats off to them

 

Porsche is only interested in racing as it would promote their product to their target audience, USA. The most popular racing here is NASCAR. Fightening to think we could see a Porsche pickup joining Toyota in the truck series!

No way they fo F-1. There's very little interest here and the costs are too high. And imagine how it would look as they finish with no points (which they likely would their first year), how embarassing.

It's a pity that F-1 doesn't become more popular here. I thought it might pick up since we Americans love a hero and with Shumacher dominating so decisively I thought that would raise interest but sadly this has not happened. I'm sure heads are rolling about Ralf. That was disgusting to watch.

 

Quote from the F1 site:

"He lost control of his Williams after a left-rear puncture heading into the final turn, span and hit the concrete wall on the outside of the track backwards at very high speed - his car eventually coming to rest next to the pitwall. Racefans held their breath as the German stayed almost motionless in his car - but the medical team led by Professor Sid Watkins was quickly on the scene and Ralf was extracted and sent to hospital where it was confirmed he had suffered nothing worse than bruising. He will be kept in overnight as a precautionary measure."

Hmmmm....maybe I was watching the wrong F1 race...

 

Why would a truck and tractor company compete in F1?

 

As much as I love F1 ( and I too could not believe how long it took them to get to Ralf- too much like another crash with a Williams 10 years old...) I really don't think Porsche could come up with the $$$ . Look at Toyota, the richest car company in the world according to some reports- it took them a long time to get competitive in CART, and a similiar learning curve in F1 now. I want Porsche back at LeMans. The R8's (an awesome car, too bad it wasn't a Porsche) are now all private entries- and Piech is gone, now it's time for Porsche to come back!!!

 

I was also surprised by the very slow response to Ralf's accident Sunday. Typically, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is considered to be the very best for accident response; I've never seen such a slow response at an IndyCar or NASCAR race there. F1, however, insists on dictating much of what goes on at the US Grand Prix (Bernie's way or the highway), and that may explain the slow, poorly coordinate response.

As far as Porsche entering F1, I agree with most of the above respondents; Porsche has too little to gain and too much to lose.
Does anyone remember Porsche's rather disastrous attempt at Indy (I think it was probably early to mid- 1980's). They probably did more harm than good as far as publicity goes--the Porsche entry was never competitive.

Andy
'02 996 Targa
(Longtime Indy resident)

 

Considering Ralf's car came to rest right in front of my seats in the main grandstand, I had a birds eye view and I did not feel that the crew responded too slowly. His car was dangerously place in the middle of the track at the end of the fastest corner. Until they could get all the F1 cars behind the safety car, it would have been way too dangerous to attempt to go out onto the track.

I haven't seen the race on tv yet, but it appeared to me that they got there as quickly as they could without endangering the rescue crew.

BTW, the track announcer stated that Ferrari spends about $300mil a year on their F1 budget, while Minardi spends about $50mil/yr. No sense in Porsche getting into F1 unless they're willing to spend enough to be the best.