Porsche has revealed that it was on the verge of reaching an agreement with Red Bull. There was talk of a ‘handshake deal’, after which the negotiations between Porsche and Red Bull suddenly collapsed.
Prior to the Belgian GP, Audi officially announced its return to Formula 1, but Porsche was also expected to enter Formula 1 as the second brand of the Volkswagen Group. Everything seemed to indicate that Porsche would take a 50 percent stake in Red Bull Technologies.
Red Bull Technologies leads the Red Bull F1 team, but suddenly things went wrong and the negotiations and talks were stopped. According to Porsche CEO Oliver Blume, talks with Red Bull had progressed to the point of a so-called ‘handshake deal’.
“The talks went very well, a share in the team was agreed and there was a handshake but it was not finalized at the very last minute,” said Blume according to ‘Speedweek’.
“We wanted an equal partner. Everyone decide for themselves if they want to sell stocks, that’s ok with us. We behaved fairly.”
“We will see what happens in the future and what will be attractive. We have a huge motorsport program ahead of us and we are looking forward to it.”
For now, it remains to be seen whether Porsche will actually participate in Formula 1. FIA chairman Mohammed Ben Sulayem recently revealed that Porsche was still in talks to participate in Formula 1 (Read: Porsche is negotiating with various F1 teams).