F1: ‘Still unclear’ if Volkswagen brands including Porsche and Audi will join, says Toto Wolff

Reports suggest Red Bull will partner with Porsche and Audi uniting with McLaren in 2026

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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says the “picture is still very unclear” regarding Volkswagen’s potential entry into Formula One.

There are suggestions that Porsche and Audi, both companies part of the VW group, are joining Formula One, with reports indicating Red Bull are looking to partner with Porsche and Audi potentially joining forces with McLaren in 2026.

However, Wolff currently thinks that the plan is far from agreed and there remains questions on what VW’s entry could potentially look like.

As quoted by Motorsport.com, Wolff said: “It’s great if the Volkswagen Group joins F1.

“Fantastic brand, it increases the credibility of what we do. And they are racers. But as far as I understand, there is no firm commitment yet.

“They’ve been sitting on the table for the regulations, but [while] that commitment isn’t actually confirmed, we can’t really know what the plans are.

“I think that it’s not clear yet who actually enters as a power unit supplier.

“And who declares themselves as newcomers. It could well be that there are three companies from the same group that are entering as newcomers. How can I say? The picture is still very unclear.”

Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto also welcomed VW’s arrival into Formula One, but, like Wolff, maintained that there are some very important questions to be asked and answered relating to their potential entry.

“There are open points which are on financial regulations, because they need to be finalised and formalised,” Binotto said.

“What is a newcomer, and how do we define newcomer? What are the benefits of a newcomer? All that needs to be somehow clarified and defined. On top of that is all the IP transfer, because IP transfer should not be possible.

“That was agreed. On how do we translate that into a wording, difficult to know.

“There are points on the technical side that are still open discussions. So there are many things that need to be moved forward and finalised, and from now to June time is certainly very short, which means that we need to work on it as a high priority.”