https://www.motorsportweek.com/news/id/15647
Porsche to Formula 1 with Williams:
Porsche will quit the FIA World Endurance Championship's LMP1 class at the end of this season, but the signs are that the ultimate goal is not to rely only on Formula E and that Porsche's next stop will be an F1 deal.
The company already has all the technology required to create a current F1 engine and while it is unlikely to win anything before the new F1 rules come into place in 2021, there is a very obvious strategy which it could take to be in a great position for the next F1 era.
The word in Budapest before the summer break was that Porsche will come to F1 - perhaps with other VW brands following as well - and that the obvious deal would be to go into partnership with an established team, in order to avoid having to invest in expensive chassis technology and infrastructure.
While it is assumed by most people that this would involve a deal with Red Bull Racing, it is much more likely that Porsche will go to a team which is a little bit more manufacturer-friendly. McLaren has its own agenda with engines while Sauber and Toro Rosso are in the wrong places. Haas is a Ferrari satellite. Force India might be a possible partner, but while it has a great group of engineers it needs a huge amount of capital investment..
All of this means that the best available choice is clearly Williams F1, not only because the team has a great heritage and decent facilities, but also because it needs a manufacturer to get it back to winning, which a customer Mercedes engine deal will not do.
There are also other elements that make Williams the obvious choice, not least the fact that it is sponsored by Porsche's traditional motorsport partner Martini & Rossi and the various brands fit very neatly together. The Martini Porsche relationship goes back nearly 50 years and is a brand that is instantly recognised outside the confines of F1.
Williams is also a company that is listed on the stock exchange in Germany, which means that the potential for a full takeover of the Williams group exists, if the family wants to sell out to Porsche at some point in the future. This need not all happen tomorrow, but there is a great deal of long term logic in such a relationship.