Volkswagen - What's got into you???

[HarmanKardon]

Shame on you!

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by HarmanKardon

Shame on you!

I love the irony!

[RACING NERD ALERT!]

Here's what I think will happen after the smoke clears.

VW will build an engine for motor racing under the VW brand. It will probably be for Formula 1 because the hybrid powered engines VW already uses for endurance racing, under the Porsche and Audi brands, are quite similar to those used in Formula 1 these days.

The team likely to be partnered with is Red Bull Racing. They are a very successful team in F1, having won both the driver's and manufacturer's championships for 4 straight years.

They are also quite dissatisfied with their current engine supplier, Renault. They almost quit Formula 1 as a result at the end of this season but decided to hang in with Renault for another season. Meanwhile, they've announced that they have "exciting news" regarding their engine situation for 2017.

I'm thinking VW/Red Bull is the news. This could potentially benefit both partners. Red Bull Needs an engine and the Porche and Audi endurance engines are the class of the field. VW needs to burnish their image and having a successful Formula 1 program would accomplish that, just as racing success resurrected Audi after the "unintended acceleration" fiasco.

Also, Red Bull is an Austrian company. The language affinity between a German engine manufacturer and an Austrian constructor would probably count for something. After all, the Team Principle of the German Mercedes F1 team, Toto Wolff, and their Non-Executive Chairman, Niki Lauda are both Austrians.