Lewis Hamilton Welcomes Fresh Competition in F1 Amid Growing Porsche Interests

Porsche and Audi are planning to enter Formula One world by the 2026 season. While Audi is likely to partner with McLaren, it is widely reported that Porsche will partner with Red Bull. But Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton revealed that the news of Porsche partnering with Red Bull does not surprise him.

The 7-time world champion mentioned he was happy that new manufacturers will enter the sport. However, Hamilton also added that Porsche partnering with Red Bull might not be as beneficial to them.

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If the German manufacturer enters the sport, it is unlikely that Red Bull will be the only team that they will target. They will also go for a few of the backmarkers and help them move up the grid.

Lewis Hamilton gives his take on the Red Bull-Porsche partnership

Lewis stated that the new manufacturers entering the sport will give an opportunity for the teams at the back to move up the grid and fight the top teams. But he did not comment on whether Mercedes would be worried if another German manufacturer would partner with their main rival in Formula One.

“I knew about it a long time ago already. So I think it’s great that we’re going to get new manufacturers within the sport, especially as you see there are a lot of teams that have the potential to be top teams but are our customer teams and so I think it’s going to be great moving forward and so we welcome them in,” said Lewis.

So if Porsche partners with Red Bull, then it is very likely that they will also supply engines to their sister team AlphaTauri. Therefore, AlphaTauri would surely be a team that would benefit from the partnership between Porsche and Red Bull.

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But until the German team enters the sport in 2026, Red Bull have their own Powertrain in effect. The Austrian team had some help from the former engine supplier Honda to set up their powertrains unit this season.

So it is unclear whether Red Bull will completely abandon Powertrain if they start a partnership with Porsche. Hamilton’s comments have certainly forced us to see things in a different light. But only time will tell if the partnership between Porsche and the Milton Keynes-based team can truly work in the sport.