Horner: Red Bull partnership with Porsche must fit with team's DNA

Christian Horner says any partnership Red Bull may seal with Porsche in the future must fit with the Milton Keynes-based outfit's DNA.

Red Bull and Porsche are in talks to seal a collaboration in F1 that would see the legendary sports car manufacturer become a 50 per cent partner in Red Bull Technlology, the entity that operates the energy drink company's principal Formula 1 teams.

Recent documents filed by Porsche with anti-competition authorities all over the world and outlining the car maker's partnership with Red Bull were inadvertently revealed by Morocco's Conseil de la Concurrence, which offered the media a head's up how Red Bull and Porsche are structuring their prospective deal.

But Horner downplayed the leak, insisting Red Bull's dealings wit Porsche were still in their early days. But if a partnership emerges, it will bring the two companies together for the long term.

• Read also: Horner provides update on Red Bull-Porsche talks

"There’s plenty of speculation about this, but we’re really only at a discussion stage and there are so many caveats based on regulations that are the fundamental part," Horner said in Hungary last weekend.

"I think Red Bull has demonstrated its commitment to Formula 1, its longevity in the sport, initially as a sponsor and then as a team owner and then as a double team owner and then as a promoter with a circuit and so on.

"And I think anything that we look at is very much with the long term in mind. We’re not looking at a short-term solution.

"Strategically, it would have to fit obviously, within the long-term plans that the Red Bull have for its commitment in Formula 1."

The specific anti-trust documents that were divulged by the Moroccan authorities referred to a ten-year collaboration between Red Bull and Porsche which is aligned with Horner's comment.

However, the Red Bull team principal also singled out another prime requirement for the two companies to work together.

"A company like Porsche, it’s an enormous company, great heritage, phenomenal brand," Horner said. "So, of course, there are attractions to that.

"But any partnership would have to fit with the Red Bull philosophy, obviously, the DNA, the culture of who we are, how we go racing and what we’ve achieved.

"It would be absolutely fundamental to any discussion of not changing that, you know.

"We’re successful for a reason. And of course, in any discussion that would be conditional on any involvement."

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