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Mercedes F1 Boss Toto Wolff Wants His Team to Race Against a Rival Like Porsche

Toto Wolff, the man in charge of the Mercedes-AMG F1 team, respects Red Bull for being bold enough to build its own Formula 1 engine. However, he’s also sorry that a deal with Porsche couldn’t happen, saying that a Red Bull-Porsche partnership would have been great for the sport.
Mercedes-AMG F1 CEO Toto Wolff 6 photos
Photo: Mercedes
Mercedes-AMG F1 CEO Toto WolffMercedes-AMG F1 CEO Toto WolffMercedes-AMG F1 CEO Toto WolffMercedes-AMG F1 CEO Toto WolffMercedes-AMG F1 CEO Toto Wolff
Red Bull just recently called off negotiations with Porsche, leaving Audi as the VW Group’s only brand to join F1 come 2026 – although, at this time, it’s unclear whether Porsche have abandoned their F1 strategy altogether, or whether they’re just playing possum.

Regardless, Red Bull will go ahead and make their own engines through their Powertrains division, with team boss Christian Horner indicating that another collaboration with Honda could be a possibility, especially when it comes to battery technology.

Wolff meanwhile still hopes that Porsche can find another way to join the grid, reports Motorsport.

“It’s a shame obviously, from me as a Mercedes person, it’s a shame that we can’t fight with Porsche. Porsche/Red Bull would have been a mega entry. A great brand.”

“And that didn’t work out for reasons that are unknown to me. It would have been really great for F1 and all of us overall if they would have joined forces for the attractiveness of the sport.”

“Every large corporation, especially auto companies, not only auto companies, because Red Bull is also pretty good at that, that not only buys a racing team and invest large amounts of money into running it, but also invests even more into activation is beneficial for F1.”

As for Red Bull’s engine project, Wolff said it was “very bold” and that he’s now interested in seeing how they perform from 2026 onwards, regardless of which brand ends up badging the engine (or not).

“Being self-sufficient is clearly a scenario that Red Bull have always wanted to achieve, have their own power unit, not be dependent of any other OEM.”
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About the author: Sergiu Tudose
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Sergiu got to experience both American and European car "scenes" at an early age (his father drove a Ford Fiesta XR2 supermini in the 80s). After spending over 15 years at local and international auto publications, he's starting to appreciate comfort behind the wheel more than raw power and acceleration.
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