Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRed Bull Racing

Red Bull confirms VW negotiations before emissions scandal

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Christian Horner has confirmed Red Bull was in talks with Volkswagen about a potential takeover before the emissions scandal which rocked the German car giant.

It was reported by the BBC’s Eddie Jordan in Singapore that VW was close to taking over Red Bull and developing its own power unit to introduce in 2018. However, the news was soon followed by the emissions scandal which saw Volkswagen’s chief executive Martin Winterkorn step down.

Horner admits the issues VW was facing with its road cars put the brakes on any potential entry in to Formula One.

“Well of course there was – as publicly known – there has been discussion with the VW Group which obviously... with their current issues probably Formula One is the last thing on their mind,” Horner said.

“There were other discussions that will become apparent no doubt in the future as well, other promises that were made. There’s an awful lot of speculation and conjecture about our situation at the moment. Once everything is finalised I’m sure it will all become extremely clear.”

It was confirmed on Friday that Red Bull has approached Honda regarding a potential power unit supply deal in 2016 as the team looks to secure its future in the sport.

Technical analysis: Exclusive pictures of the 2015 Honda power unit

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.