There’s an F1 rumor that’s popped up on Youtube that makes for some interesting considerations. The rumor involves Porsche and Formula 1’s Williams team.
Granted, rumors in motorsport have always been notoriously unreliable, and this one comes from Youtube with little other references in the mainstream press. So, while interesting to consider, it needs to be taken with a generous helping of grains of salt.
Further, on the remote chance there’s truth to this story, there could be ramifications for Audi’s own F1 2026 grid debut.
FIRST, THE RUMOR
Back when Audi first began exploring a bid for F1, its Volkswagen Group sibling and sometimes on-track rival, Porsche (think 919 vs. R18 years) was also weighing an F1 campaign of its own.
Back then, most rumors centered around Audi purchasing a team to run as a factory effort, while Porsche appeared to be envisioning more of a partnership with an established dominant player – Red Bull Racing. Talks then fell apart, and it was the outcome of the Porsche discussions that is more recently further rumored to be tied to Red Bull GM Christian Horner’s very abrupt sacking.
This narrative first popped up back in November and also on Youtube from what I can tell. That video, posted here, covers a lot of the same ground as another video posted by a different F1 rumor channel just last week. I’ve embedded it here.
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Williams has long been sited as a path for Porsche should they have been serious about F1. Back then, Williams was a bit of a back marker. In 2025 though, Williams has found a bit of its mojo. Towards the end of last season it rather surprisingly hired star driver Carlos Sainz, Jr. out from under a very interested Audi F1 and it currently sits in 5th place in the 2025 constructor’s championship – two places ahead of Audi-owned Sauber in the mid-season standings.
So goes the rumor, Porsche isn’t seeking to purchase a team. Instead, they’re allegedly operating “in the shadows” by throwing in as a collaborator or partner with Williams, itself now an up-and-coming team hungry to make its mark.
SECOND, WHY THIS WOULD MAKE SENSE
James Vowles took over as Team Principle at Williams in 2023. Since then, he’s installed fresh engineering talent. He also achieved the aforementioned coup by signing Carlos Sainz, Jr. to a multi-year deal. Why would Sainz take the gamble and sign a multi-year deal with Williams? Certainly he saw long-term potential.
In 2026, the technical schema changes with power being split 50:50 between internal combustion engines and battery power. In theory, this introduces many new technical factors such as hybrid integration, battery cooling, ERS mapping and energy deployment strategies.
That’s new ground for most teams, but not for Porsche who has plenty of experience in these systems thanks to its 919 and then 963 Le Mans programs. It’s also got plenty of experience in Formula E. Incidentally, so does Audi Sport… albeit Ingolstadt shuttered both its Le Mans prototype and Formula E racing years ago, meaning Porsche’s expertise is logically much further along.
While performing with a high degree of efficiency and reliability are critical in places like Le Mans, these priorities haven’t traditionally been needed in F1. That changes for 2026.
Rather than entering F1 with a car, as the F1 Now video above theorizes, Porsche could instead enter F1 with code like battery regeneration algorithms, with labs, hybrid systems and simulation data, thermal architecture. Very few teams in the world have this sort of experience.
Even with all that experience, Porsche wanted more control over a joint effort than Red Bull was prepared to give. At the time, Red Bull was at the top of their game, while Williams of today is likely much more open to such collaboration with a strong and dominant partner such as Porsche.
Why would Porsche do this? Likely they’re risk averse. Working with Williams in such capacity, Porsche wouldn’t have to outlay the massive amounts of funds that Audi has had to do to acquire Sauber. No doubt the Volkswagen Group board is hawkish on lavish expenditures given the current business environment. In theory, this would allow Porsche to figuratively invest in F1 without the outlay.
Audi’s decision came at a cost including its own Le Mans program that was a sister to the Porsche 963, and other rumors suggest the Mk3 R8 also met its demise in order to free up funds for F1. Earlier today, Audi-owned Lamborghini also put a pause on its own separate SC63 IMSA / GTP program.
The F1 Now video suggests that should such a Williams plan prove effective, Porsche could be in a position to take it over and create its own F1 factory effort. However, that would be easier said than done. A Williams Racing in championship-vying form would be considerably more expensive to acquire than the struggling Williams that was on the market in 2020.
THIRD, NOT THE FIRST PORSCHE WILLIAMS RUMOR
Before Porsche’s 2025 withdrawal from consideration of F1 and following the end of the Red Bull exploration, there’d been an further rumor of Porsche and Williams round about 2023. Back then, the story seemed to have been traced to a video posted by Porsche Motorsport on social media that allegedly shared a blurry image of Williams founder Frank Williams. Rumors were rampant back then about Porsche and Audi F1 aspirations. That it was timed with Porsche’s rolling its Formula E Instagram account into Porsche Motorsport also added fuel to the flames.
Was this a clue? Maybe in the world of conspiracy theories, but it happened just days after Gulf announced a move of its own, ending its then deal at McLaren and signing on with Williams. Of course, there’s plenty of history between Gulf and Porsche. Speculating fans took notice.
“We were just sorting out our [social media] channels, it didn’t have anything to do with coming close to Formula 1. We were as surprised as anyone.” stated Porsche’s then head of motorsport Thomas Laudenbach to Motorsport.com.
Williams had a response of its own, saying in a statement, “The rumours that Williams Racing is up for sale are inaccurate,” Having purchased the team from the Williams family in 2020, Dorilton Capital currently owns Williams Racing.
Back in 2020 following the purchase of Williams, its new owner Dorilton Capital had installed a number of Volkswagen Group motorsport players associated with the VW Polo WRC program including Jost Capito as Team Principal, François-Xavier Demaison as Technical Director and Sven Smeets as Sporting Director. Only Smeets remains to this day, but that association could mean familiarity.
Now consider the second part to that 2022 statement on Porsche. Even though Williams Racing signaled it wasn’t for sale, the team went on to say, “We are open to any discussions regarding the supply of engines with manufacturers from 2026 when the new engine regulations come in.”
For 2025, Williams remains paired with Mercedes-AMG as an engine supplier and plans to continue with Mercedes-AMG for now. Also, the landscape at F1 certainly points to supplier customers having just as much chance at on-track dominance as the supplier themselves. McLaren also notably uses Mercedes-AMG, is clearly the most dominant team of the 2025 season thus far, dominating even their engine supplier’s factory team.
In 2026, Audi will supply its own engine. Thus far, no other customer teams have been announced. Could or would a Porsche collaborating Williams switch to an Audi engine for a closer relationship between these two Volkswagen Group divisions? Could that Audi engine be sold to customers branded as Porsche… or even Lamborghini, Bugatti or Bentley? Depending on the success Audi achieves in F1 and the series’ continued massive media exposure value, the Volkswagen Group could likely do any of the above in order to see more brands in its portfolio benefit from the association. And, no other remaining brand in that vast portfolio seems to be in a position to commercially benefit from that association with F1 as much as Porsche.
Again, all of this talk of such a collaboration is purely speculative. Still, you have to think that such a relationship involving Porsche + Williams associating in such capacity with Audi would likely benefit both teams. It also wouldn’t be the first time two teams worked together. Red Bull and Racing Bulls (Visa Cash App RB Formula One Team) already enjoy a similar relationship… at least in theory.
FOURTH, THE HERITAGE
The automotive enthusiasts and motorsport historians out there probably also haven’t missed the shared heritage and associations one might fantasize about when considering a paired Porsche + Williams effort, associations steeped in Porsche’s brand history and/or community. Obviously, the motorsport community is a small one and often incestuous. Finding six degrees of separation is easier here than it proverbially is with Kevin Bacon.
First up is Martini. The idea of Porsche and Martini competing together in F1 strikes a nerve. Martini & Rossi paired iconically with Porsche at Le Mans beginning in 1968 and remained a Porsche sponsor fixture through the 1970s. Porsche recently even celebrated at the 24 Hours of Le Mans the anniversary of the 917 road car commissioned, driven and owned by Count Rossi.
Martini had sponsored Williams in F1 from 2014 to 2018, then pivoted to the Alfa Romeo-branded Team Sauber until 2024… small world indeed. Williams is currently tied to Atlassian as its title sponsor, but since we’re fantasizing, it just seems like a missed opportunity not to mention Martini.
There’s one more Porsche(ish) association with Williams that’s worth mentioning in passing. Given we’re already well out on a limb of rumor and conjecture, why not also relay that it was none other than Williams who was the development partner of Singer Vehicle Design, even creating the flat six engine that powered their Dynamics and Lightweighting Study (DLS) formula of vintage Porsche 911’s reimagined by the firm. Yes… it’s that Singer.
Let the conspiracy theories commence. Thus far, we haven’t seen any further commentary from Williams or Porsche on this latest rumor. Given it’s just on Youtube and not yet in the mainstream press, they may not ever comment. Even still, it’s interesting to think about.
Why mention it on an Audi-focused site like ooooIYKYK? You may have noticed I’m choosing to up the amount of F1 content running on this site by more closely covering Sauber ahead of Audi F1’s arrival.
Porsche entering into this mix in such capacity with Williams would be highly interesting from an Audi perspective for multiple reasons. First, as an ally and potential engine customer, a Porsche + Williams team would likely make Audi’s ramp-up as championship contender that much faster given shared learning or costs for engine development. Second, even as a fierce competitor as they were in the Audi R18 vs. Porsche 919 days at Le Mans, the rivalry invited a rivalry for Audi that was, while good spirited, one of the biggest direct challengers and inspirations the brand has had to face. Such a challenge might invite Audi to step back into its former position as fierce contender to be reckoned with on the track.
LAST, DISCLAIMER
Again, I can’t say it enough. Right now, this is a rumor and an unsubstantiated one at that. The images in this story were created via A.I. in Midjourney and further rendered by me within my work on my @4Rings.AI project. In case it’s not obvious, they’re not real. I don’t want to be misleading about that. I haven’t spoken to any of my own sources about this story, nor collaborated with anyone in the making of these images. It’s all imagining and theorization on rumors, which seems in the sprit of the world of F1 fandom the Audi brand and its community will now be joining.