The bureaucracy revealed the secretly negotiated agreement ahead of time.
The future cooperation between Porsche and Red Bull is the worst-kept secret in the formula pit.
The documents revealed that the German car brand had bought 50 percent of the top team in the F1 series. The deal is scheduled to be officially announced on August 4.
Thanks to bureaucracy
Porsche and Red Bull have been known to rub shoulders for a long time. Porsche’s parent company Volkswagen is about to join the F1 circuit in the next few years with both the Porsche and Audi brands.
The Porsche collaboration with champion team Red Bull, which was negotiated in secret from the public, required its final blessing from the bureaucracy. It was this phase that prematurely revealed the deal that would revolutionize the formula world.
In connection with the negotiations, the parties had to get approval from the authorities supervising the various legal aspects of business both in the EU and outside it. One of these 20 non-EU partner countries is Morocco.
State legislation stipulates that contracts are public information. It was through this that the formula media got a hint about the otherwise secret agreement between Red Bull and Porsche.
The agreement states that Porsche and Red Bull have committed to cooperation for ten years. In the document, it is said that the car brand will buy a 50 percent slice of the Red Bull Technology company. It is the umbrella organization for all formula activities of the energy drink brand.
Delays
According to Autosport, the collaboration was supposed to be announced a couple of weeks ago in connection with the Austrian GP.
However, Porsche wanted to delay the announcement after the FIA Motorsport Commission was not allowed to lock in the 2026 F1 engines. Changes to the power sources are Porsche’s precondition for joining the F1 series.
F1 is continuing with hybrid engines, but Porsche’s parent company Volkswagen wants to get rid of the MGU-H part, which is expensive and wastes heat energy for civilian cars. In addition, the intention is to make the engines significantly cheaper than they are now.
The FIA shares Porsche’s requirements, so the car brand no longer sees an obstacle to cooperation with Red Bull.
You got rid of the Honda
This season Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez rely on Honda power sources.
Although Red Bull is responsible for their maintenance and development following Honda’s recent decision to withdraw, it does not have intellectual property rights to Honda’s power sources.
Thus, Porsche cannot physically study Honda’s mills in the development of its own powertrain.
Max Verstappen is Red Bull’s star driver. PDO