VW Enters.................

[Thunder]

motorsport-total.com reports that on VW Board Level there is zero Chance of VW entering F1. They claim to have a reliable Source. Many pinches of Salt though...

[NathanOlder]

Maybe in the not too distant future the title should be changed to

VW Enters............. Administration.

[Richard]

motorsport-total.com reports that on VW Board Level there is zero Chance of VW entering F1. They claim to have a reliable Source. Many pinches of Salt though...

I'd say the odds are very low too. I can't imagine any firm whose core business is going through a crisis would start up a new venture in a high risk environment like F1. VW need to get their best brains and leaders focussed on recovering their core business, not getting distracted by F1.

There is also the bad image of being seen to party in the glamorous world of F1 at a time when they need to be seen as humble and contrite.

[KeiKo403]

But if VW entering gets Bernie out of a very deep hole with the RBR quit threat.....basically don't underestimate the power of Bernie. I'm not saying for 1 second that he can make any of the VW problems go away but they wouldn't do any harm by scratching his back.

[noname]

But if VW entering gets Bernie out of a very deep hole with the RBR quit threat.....basically don't underestimate the power of Bernie. I'm not saying for 1 second that he can make any of the VW problems go away but they wouldn't do any harm by scratching his back.

I doubt VW will show up in F1 earlier than 2018, till then this case may be long gone.
They can keep working, they may just need to be quiet longer than it was planned.

[ChrisF1]

Let's close the thread, I think we have the final word:

VW Group's new CEO, Matthias Müller went on to say: "While the technical solutions to these problems are imminent, it is not possible to quantify the commercial and financial implications at present. That is why we have initiated a further critical review of all planned investments. Anything that is not absolutely necessary will be cancelled or postponed. And it is why we will be intensifying the efficiency program. To be perfectly frank: this will not be a painless process."

[FW17]

Unrelated but............

Ex-Ferrari F1 boss Domenicali named Lamborghini CEO


Stefano Domenicali has been confirmed as the new president and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini SpA.

The former Ferrari team principal, who left Maranello in 2014 after a 23-year career with the Scuderia, succeeds Stephan Winkelman at the helm of the Volkswagen Group-owned brand.

Winkelmann had been the President since 2005. The German will be staying in the VW Group and takes over the growing Quattro GmbH business in Neckarsulm, Germany.

Lamborghini last raced as a constructor in F1 back in 1991 with the Team Modena outfit which ran Nicola Larini and Eric van de Poele. The company went on to supply V12 engines to Larousse and Minardi until the end of 1993.

After that, the Italian concern, which was acquired by the VW Group in 1998 and put under the control of Audi, has concentrated on GT racing and last year unveiled the new Lamborghini Huracan GT3 model.

Since then the brand has been revitalised with sales having risen from 1,600 units per year to over 2,500 last year.

Domenicali joined Audi in late 2014, and is believed to have been tasked with a feasibility study for a potential future F1 programme.

The 50 year-old Italian will formerly take up his position as president and CEO on March 15th.

This would be the third posting since he joined VW

[FW17]

One more person happy to see BE gone

"From my point of view, the whole topic is currently being mixed up again. It is an absolute new beginning to recognize," says Wolfgang Dürheimer in conversation with Motorsport-Total.com. The Bentley and Bugatti brand managers are the company's authorized representative for the entire topic of motor sport. If a Volkswagen brand were to enter the Formula One, 58-year-old Allgäuer would have to give his blessing.

"If such a new start is to be recognized, then one must, of course, also put the previous decisions to the test and re-evaluate it," Dürheimer makes the door to the royal class at least a bit wide open. In the past few years, a possible introduction of Audi into the Formula 1 had been speculated several times. Under the direction of former Ferrari team-mate Stefano Domenicali, a feasibility study had been drafted, but in the winter of 2014/2015 it had once again decided against such a move.

If Liberty does a good job of event promotion then F1 will be a major attraction to the Manufacturers

[Eddie_Temple]

I fail to grasp how VW and Lambo haven't decided to put the nail in the coffin of Ferrari?

Ferrari has never been in a weaker position, literally having a failed PU engineer running the team, meanwhile VW has had more success in an equally competitive series (LMP1) than Ferrari has had in it's entire F1 history.

Somewhere somehow that engineering skill should be able to translate.

Not only that but Ferrari are now the Toyota of supercars, literally selling 3-4 cars for every car Lamborghini sells, clearly we shouldnt even mention Bugatti. Lambo showing up in F1 would almost be guaranteed more success than Ferrari in its 1st if not 2nd season. Honestly, Id vote for Lambo to receive Fer's historical payments simply do to Lambo showing up with a contemporary livery VS Fer's decades old and TIRED tobacco paintjob.

Less we forget the value in changing the story. Nothing says forget about diesel gate like a victory in F1.



Utter fail by VW tbh.

[Big Mangalhit]

I fail to grasp how VW and Lambo haven't decided to put the nail in the coffin of Ferrari?

Ferrari has never been in a weaker position, literally having a failed PU engineer running the team, meanwhile VW has had more success in an equally competitive series (LMP1) than Ferrari has had in it's entire F1 history.

Somewhere somehow that engineering skill should be able to translate.

Not only that but Ferrari are now the Toyota of supercars, literally selling 3-4 cars for every car Lamborghini sells, clearly we shouldnt even mention Bugatti. Lambo showing up in F1 would almost be guaranteed more success than Ferrari in its 1st if not 2nd season. Honestly, Id vote for Lambo to receive Fer's historical payments simply do to Lambo showing up with a contemporary livery VS Fer's decades old and TIRED tobacco paintjob.

Less we forget the value in changing the story. Nothing says forget about diesel gate like a victory in F1.



Utter fail by VW tbh.

So vw had 2 victories with audi and two with porsche on WEC and are automatically more successful than the countless championships won by ferrari. In a series which is "as competitive as F1" even though 2/3 teams are from vw. What an utter nonsense it goes there.

Then you think lambo would just come to F1 with no previous expertise and they could be competitive? and even faster than ferrari by 2nd season for sure??? Have you seen how tough it is being for new teams, especially in engine dptm? are you new to f1?

Then you think the historical payment should go to lambo? Do you know what historical means?

[Pierce89]

I fail to grasp how VW and Lambo haven't decided to put the nail in the coffin of Ferrari?

Ferrari has never been in a weaker position, literally having a failed PU engineer running the team, meanwhile VW has had more success in an equally competitive series (LMP1) than Ferrari has had in it's entire F1 history.

Somewhere somehow that engineering skill should be able to translate.

Not only that but Ferrari are now the Toyota of supercars, literally selling 3-4 cars for every car Lamborghini sells, clearly we shouldnt even mention Bugatti. Lambo showing up in F1 would almost be guaranteed more success than Ferrari in its 1st if not 2nd season. Honestly, Id vote for Lambo to receive Fer's historical payments simply do to Lambo showing up with a contemporary livery VS Fer's decades old and TIRED tobacco paintjob.

Less we forget the value in changing the story. Nothing says forget about diesel gate like a victory in F1.



Utter fail by VW tbh.

VW competes against Toyota, who started the WEC project at 10% of their annual f1 budget(roughly 400 M USD) and have now upped it to 25% of their annual f1. Peugot never equaled either of those amounts. So yeah....the WEC is as competitive as f1....oh wait.....its not even close. Audi literally fit their whole wind tunnel program(which expanded exponentially to get to this size at 3000 rented tunnel hours) into Sauber's down time.

F1 takes integration, overall design detail, and vehicle dynamic tuning to a level that WEC frankly isn't even close to yet. Porsche's 4 year budget to build an operation from scratch and run for 4 seasons(which also blows away the budgets of the two teams that were already in existence, but I guess it should seeing as how Porsche built the whole program from scratch) would only cover to 2 normal operating seasons worth of budget for the Merc f1 program not even starting to include any infrastructure Merc had to build.

No the WEC isn't close to f1 level.

[wesley123]

Ferrari has never been in a weaker position, literally having a failed PU engineer running the team, meanwhile VW has had more success in an equally competitive series (LMP1) than Ferrari has had in it's entire F1 history.

Experience in designing engines doesn't say anything about anyones management skill. Also, LMP1 can hardly be called competitive.

Lambo showing up in F1 would almost be guaranteed more success than Ferrari in its 1st if not 2nd season.

Obviously, take a look at how Honda crushed everyone in 2015. OH wait, they didn't, they struggled pretty badly. There is no reason to assume that Lamborghini would magically make up a 4-year deficit AND be competitive in it's first, or even second, season.

Less we forget the value in changing the story. Nothing says forget about diesel gate like a victory in F1.

How would a manufacturer which shares very little to dieselgate change anything about that? It's anyone guess how well known the brands under the VW AG umbrella are, but I certainly would not relate a million dollar supercar to a Golf or Polo.
Apart from that, a win in F1 isn't all that special, it has very little value. Certainly if you compare it to winning at LE Mans, for example.

VW has very little reason to be in F1, and Lamborghini has got nothing to prove, certainly not against Ferrari.

[FW17]

Apart from that, a win in F1 isn't all that special, it has very little value. Certainly if you compare it to winning at LE Mans, for example.

Merc are the top selling luxury car maker, taking over from BMW.

So F1 winning is not "little Value".

Audi winning LMP for so many years and still not being on top says 24h does not have more value than F1.

[wesley123]

Winning a race means very little. A championship on the other hand

[bdr529]

Apart from that, a win in F1 isn't all that special, it has very little value. Certainly if you compare it to winning at LE Mans, for example.

Merc are the top selling luxury car maker, taking over from BMW.

So F1 winning is not "little Value".

Audi winning LMP for so many years and still not being on top says 24h does not have more value than F1.

Merc over taking BMW as the top selling luxury brand, doesn't mean that it was on the back of the 3 F1 titles they won,
that's to far of a leap to insinuate that the rise in sales was based solely on their participation in F1.
you would need to see the global sales figures per model by region, and if Merc used F1 in their sales promotion before you could even try to correlate the rise in sales with their F1 victories.