McLaren Awaits Audi's Decision To Step Down In F1 And Evaluate Cooperation Opportunities

JAKARTA - McLaren said it was happy to wait for Audi to make a decision to enter Formula 1 and evaluate the possibility of partnering with the German manufacturer.

McLaren is said to have been in talks with the Volkswagen Group, which owns the Audi and Porsche brands, which have been linked with Formula 1, but no agreement has been reached, McLaren boss Zak Brown said.

German daily FAZ reported that Volkswagen's supervisory board will decide by the end of February whether their two brands, Audi and Porsche, will participate in F1.

A Reuters source late last year said there was discussion of a potential partnership between Audi and McLaren, although no agreement had yet been reached.

"I'm with them (Volkswagen) going to do something with Red Bull in front of Porsche," Brown told reporters at McLaren headquarters as quoted by Reuters on Thursday.

"I think they have spoken to a number of people on the grid and as you can imagine we have had talks but in the short to medium term we are very happy where we are now."

McLaren currently uses Mercedes engines to fight in F1 and Brown says that won't change until the new engines are introduced in 2026.

Meanwhile, Red Bull has taken over the intellectual property rights from Honda following the Japanese manufacturer's departure from F1 at the end of last season. The team with the red bull logo now has its own powertrain facility to build engines for their F1 cars.

The deal with Honda covers the duration of the engine freeze which will begin this year until the sport introduces a new generation of power units.

Brown said McLaren will wait and see if Volkswagen decides to jump in.

"I don't think it has been decided at all and if they do come in, we have a contract (with Mercedes)," said Brown.

"Normally we will evaluate where we are and who is in this sport and take a decision on what we are going to do in 2026 in due course."