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Porsche or Audi could be on the Formula 1 grid soon, Porsche chairman Matthias Mueller said Friday at the Paris Motor Show. That’s right. Porsche may return to F1 or Audi might bring the rings to battle the Prancing Horse and the bulls and… umm…. a virgin?
Here he is, via Autocar:

“With LMP1, there are two classes and two brands – Audi and Porsche. We do not like to both go into LMP1 [against each other]; that is not so funny.
“So therefore we have to discuss whether it makes better sense for one of the [two] brands to go into LMP1, and the other brand into Formula 1. So we will have a round-table to discuss the pros and cons.”

I love the “that is not so funny” quote. Paging Red Bull!
The idea seems to be — this part is obvious — that one of the brands goes to Le Mans and the other into F1. On the F1 front, Porsche likely would return as an engine supplier, and Autocar adds this:

Autocar also understands VW Group’s vice president for powertrains Wolfgang Hatz has been heavily involved in discussions with the FIA regarding the proposed new four-cylinder turbocharged engines the sport plans to introduce from 2013.

(Quick digression: I love, LOVE the “Autocar also understands” phrase. I get it, but it sounds soooo Transformers.)
OK, I’m not sure that there was a story that drove more people crazy (at least in the F1B Forum) than “Audi to F1″. But here it is, right from the brand’s mouth.
Should Cosworth be a bit worried? How does a Williams-Porsche (or BMW Sauber Ferrari Porsche) team sound? How would you go about entering the sport if you were the VW group? And why the idea that Audi might switch series? That seems strange given its success and the great battle it now has with Peugeot.

This weekend’s Petit Le Mans will represent the second race in the new Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (ILMC). The 2010 edition of the new world tournament includes three race in 2010 and seven in 2011. The Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) organized the tournament and many of the teams have been very receptive. The challenge, of course, will be for the privateer as global travel and the expense it represents will prevent many teams from participating outside their respective series such as the American Le Mans Series or Europe’s Le Mans series.
One team that is embracing the new tournament is Audi Sport Team Joest. The team will contest the second race in the ILMC here at the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta this weekend after facing a defeat in round one at the 1000km at Silverstone by arch rival Peugeot. The German team will bring their R15+ chassis 202 and 203 to the battle and are banking on upgrades that should favor the unique circuit characteristics of Road Atlanta.
Audi have a stellar history at the Petit Le Mans with nine victories in the past ten years. Driver Allan McNish will be returning the scene of the crime that saw Peugeot snatch victory in a rain shortened race last year. He will be joined by veteran drivers Dindo Capello and Mr. Le Mans himself, Tom Kristensen. The sister car with be handled by Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer.
Of the three drivers, Dindo Capello has the most victories at the Petit Le Mans and despite an off Friday morning in practice, he’s looking forward to the event:
“I think that this track will suit our R15 plus a bit better. We were always very strong in this race in the past. That’s why I’m confident that we’ll be able to clinch victory for Audi. This race has always been very fortunate for me. I won five times there at seven events. That’s another reason why Road Atlanta is one of my favourite tracks.”
With four wins under his belt at the Petit Le Mans, Allan McNish has unfinished business from 2009 as he spun just prior tot he race being called for rain. We were here last year and it was a deluge. McNish was very quick and seems to expect a good showing this weekend:
“I love Petit Le Mans! 100,000 fans in such a compact arena as Road Atlanta––That’s simply great. And there’s hardly a track that suits me as well as this. It’s very fast and fluid. It demands an aggressive driving style. Every moment is a very intense experience”.
Tom Kristensen hasn’t been to the Petit Le Mans since 2002 and while it’s been a long time, he is Mr. Le Mans. That experience and pace can’t be denied and whil the circuit has changed since he last raced here, Tom is looking forward to it:
“It’s been quite a while that I last contested ‘Petit Le Mans.’ I’m very much looking forward to running there again after such a long time. I know from my two team colleagues that the track has since been resurfaced, which makes it even faster than it was back then.”
There is no doubt that the #7 car has seriously talented and experienced drivers. It should represent Audi’s best chance at defeating Peugeot this weekend but an interesting twist is that Audi’s #9 car will have three drivers who have never raced at the Petit Le Mans before. Lotterer, Fassler and Treluyer will face ten hour endurance race for the first time but it isn’t their maiden voyage for Audi having helped the marque sweep the 24 Hours of Le Mans earlier this year.
Practice sessions at Petit have revealed an approximate pace gap of 9/10’s of a second. That’s practice. The real pace of Audi and Peugeot will not be known until qualifying later today but if the speed delta is accurate, there are ten hours of racing that tactically could be Audi’s secret weapon. The build-up tot he race is proving to be exciting and it could represent one of the best Petit Le Mans in recent memory.

There has certainly been some discussion about Porsche or Audi entering F1 after today’s announcement here. Perhaps it was just an innocent observation or maybe Porsche chairman Matthias Mueller was having fun with the media––or as SJ Skid points out, it is Oktoberfest and maybe he’d had a little too much to drink. Regardless of the motive, it has gotten us to thinking about the prospect.

Porsche

First, would it be Porsche or Audi to enter the series? My bet is Porsche since they have a pedigree in the sport back in the sixties as a works team and then as a supplier to McLaren in the eighties. Why not Audi? They have a terrific sports car program that has revolutionized the sport with their Diesel TDI technology. Perhaps they would like to change gears and bring TDI to F1? Who knows but that would seem a long shot as diesel fuel isn’t an FIA equation at this point and Audi have always been comfortable in their shoes in Le Mans and at arms length with F1.
No, Porsche makes more sense at some level and while there is nothing wrong with the 911 in the GT class, it’s become a bit of a one-trick pony for the marque. Why not mix things up a bit and give consumers something to think about the next time they are looking at sports cars? Yes, I can see it now, the silver Porsche’s streaming down Eau Rouge then up the hill and down the long straight as they pass a Ferrari or two…wait…actually, no I can’t see that. Why?
I think Porsche should enter F1 as a supplier and not a manufacturer…at first anyway. The reason I think this may be a better plan is that there is little secrecy to the fact that getting into F1 is damned expensive. Just ask Norbert Haug at Mercedes, or Honda, BMW or Toyota. It costs a fortune to enter at the manufacturer level and do well and Porsche has a relationship in F1 already that makes much more sense. You’ll recall that I posted this story here about Williams supplying Porsche with their KERS unit for the 911 GT car that is racing this weekend at the Petit Le Mans.
Why not work that relationship in reverse and become a strategic partner to Williams F1? KERS will be back next year and Williams F1 could use a good partner like they had in BMW. In fact, Williams F1 had the best seasons they’ve produced in decades with BMW power and some guy named Montoya. Why not wok with Sir Frank, Patrick and Sam to become a partner and lift both Williams F1 and Porsche to the spotlight?
No question in my mind that BMW entered F1 the right way. They should have stayed and it was a mistake to bow out the way they did (from a fans perspective of course and not a balance sheet perspective). They were almost there and I fear that Porsche’s longevity in the sport may meet a quicker demise, given the length of time it takes to become successful in the sport, should they try to enter as a team.
The upside is that Porsche will have had a full season of racing with the Williams flywheel design KERS unit and that will give them an edge up. Porsche know how to take that energy and lay it down in an effective way. Williams F1 knows how to build a chassis and run a team in F1 and they have FIA credentials for the media booth (which is probably the most difficult thing to get). It seems like a good match to me but then I like Williams F1 and want them to succeed. I also like Porsche although I would be remiss in not mentioning that I love Audi and would relish the idea of the four rings entering F1 against the Mercs.

Fernando Alonso made it two poles in a row for Ferrari winning pole position for the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix halfway through the final qualifying session, with second-place starter Sebastian Vettel unable to beat the Spaniard in their final flying laps.  McLaren duo Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button with Mark Webber round our the top five starters, while Rubens Barrichello put in a good showing for Williams to start sixth.  Michael Schumacher again made it into Q3, qualifying in what feels like his typical ninths.  It was a mixed-emotion day at Ferrari, with pole-sitter Alonso’s teammate Felipe Massa starting last after an electronic issue kept him from posting a time in Q1 and leaving him to start last on Sunday. It was Red Bull all the way in both Friday practices, with Webber taking the lead as the circuit finally dried out after a typical late afternoon storm put standing water on the track an hour before the first practice.  It was a topsy-turvy session, as Kobayashi, Schumacher, and Virgin Racing’s Glock spent quite a bit of time on the top of the timesheets in the middle of the session.  It was the second session that brought representative dry times, as Vettel was the first and only driver into the 1:46s range, over a half second faster than his teammate Webber, who was second fastest, and a second or more faster than Button, Alonso, Hamilton, and the rest of the field.  Alonso ended his session with twenty minutes to go when he went down an escape route (after being poised to set a very fast lap time) to avoid crashing and seemed to have stalled the car.  According to Ferrari, “We need to wait until the car is brought back in the garage to understand what happened when Fernando was rejoining the track.”  Vettel kept to the top of the timesheets for the final practice before qualifying on Saturday, leading Alonso, Hamilton, Massa, and Rosberg as the top five on a patchily damp circuit.  Again, there were spins, but no major incidents.
Q1:
It was a bit of a procession to get out of the pits for the first sector of qualifying as twelve cars were on the circuit straightaway; while Hamilton was one of the first out, Button, both Ferraris, Red Bulls, Williams, and a few others remained in the garage.  The track was delcared dry, though there were a few wet spots, “It looks that there are still some damp patches at turns 3 and 5,” according to Ferrari.  Four minutes in and only five drivers had not headed out, with early “fast” times set by Liuzzi, Glock, and other new teams until Hamilton went straight to the top, followed by Kobayashi.  Button and Vettel were fastest and second fastest, with Schumacher’s time also eclipsing Hamilton’s, and Liuzzi rouding out the top five with thirteen minutes left in the twenty minute session.
Alonso was soon fastest, but he lost that time to Vettel, both of them the only drivers in the 1:47s range as Alguersuari was a surprise in third, only to be moved backward by Webber’s 1:47.794, with Button fourth fastest.  The session was stopped with just over ten minutes left for Massa stopped on the circuit with a suspected engine issue.  His session was over before he could set a time.  According to Ferrari, “The engine stopped but we need to see what exactly happened once the car will be brought in the garage.”  Hulkenberg was the first one back onto the circuit as everyone but his teammate and Alonso stayed in the garage.  Neither Williams, Sutil, nor Kubica had set a time, along with the luckless Massa.  With seven minutes left in the session, Vettel remained at the top, followed by Alonso, Webber, Button, Alguersuari, Hamilton, Schumacher, Rosberg, Heidfeld, and Liuzzi as the top ten.  Still, Barrichello, Kubica, and Sutil had not set a time, until Barrichello went straight to eleventh with his first time.  Ferrari also tweeted, “Loos like a problem with electronic management of the gearbox but we need to wait until the car is back in the pit.”  Sutil was off to tenth with his first lap.
With five minutes left, Kubica went to third fastest, while Trulli, Glock, Kovalainen, di Grassi, Klien, Senna, and Massa were in the knockout zone.  Buemi was in danger of being knocked out, well of the times of Alguersuari up in seventh with two minutes to go as yellow flags were out for a spin by Senna.  He continued on once the circuit was clear.  Alonso was fastest with a 1:46.541, finally outpacing the Red Bulls, and by four tenths over Vettel.  It was still the un-timed Massa along with the new teams in the knockout zone with a minute left while Ferrari was explaining that Massa’s issue was an electronic issue.  As the seconds ticked off, Barrichello was seventeenth and on the bubble, despite posting a decent time earlier in the session.  He moved up to eighth with his final lap.  At the end, Alonso (1:46.541, fastest time of the weekend) led Vettel, Webber, Kubica, Hulkenberg, Button, Alguersuari, Barrichello, Hamilton, and Schumacher as the fastest ten for Q1.  Klien was 1.2s faster than teammate Senna, in his first F1 qualifying in years.

Drivers Knocked Out at the End of Q1:
18. Glock 1:50.721
19. Kovalainen 1:50.915
20. di Grassi 1:51.107
21. Trulli 1:51.641
22. Klien 1:52.946
23. Senna 1:54.174
24. Massa, no time

Q2:
Petrov was the first out in Q2, with most of the field onto the circuit in the first of fifteen minutes for Q2.  Petrov, then Alguersuari, then Kubica were fastest as they were some of the first drivers out, though Vettel and Webber had soon sandwiched Kubica for first and third, with Alonso and Alguersuari completing the top five with ten minutes left.  Petov caused yellow flags for a few seconds as he spun, hitting the right rear wheel and breaking his suspension.  With the yellow near Petrov, despite his being on an escape road, a few times were improving, and some drivers were heading for the garage with seven minutes to go, as Hamilton led Vettel, Button, Rosberg, Kubica, Barrichello, Webber, Alonso, Alguersuari, and the stopped Petrov as the top ten after the track returned to green.
Only Alonso, Alguersuari, and Buemi were on the circuit with five and a half minutes to go, as Vettel joined them.  Buemi, Kobayashi, Sutil, Heidfeld, Hulkenberg, Liuzzi, and Schumacher were in the knockout zone. Soon only Button was in the garage as Alonso was posting a personal best in the first sector, with Vettel posting the best time of the session in the first sector as Alonso went fastest (1:45.809), leading Hamilton, Vettel, Button, and Rosberg as the top five with two and a half minutes to go. Vettel’s next lap, though, was two and a half tenths faster than Alonso, likely foreshadowing Q3.  Alonso pitted as Hulkenberg, Petrov, Buemi, Sutil, heidfeld, Sutil, Liuzzi, and Schumacher were in the knockout zone with one minute left.  Schumacher managed ninth to drop Kobayashi to the knockout zone as the session ended.  After a session spent nearer the top than usual, Alguersuari did not managed to make it to Q3, as Vettel led Alonso, Webber, Hamilton, Button, Rosberg, Kubica, Barrichello, Schumacher, and Kobayashi as the top ten.

Drivers Knocked Out at the End of Q2:
11. Alguersuari 1:47.666
12. Hulkenberg 1:47.674*
13. Petrov 1:48.165
14. Buemi 1:48.502
15. Heidfeld 1:48.557
16. Sutil 1:48.899
17. Liuzzi 1:48.961
*Hulkenberg will drop to 17th starting position for a gearbox change, moving Petrov, Buemi, Heidfeld, Sutil, and Liuzzi up one position each on the starting grid

Q3:
Button was the first driver out, leading the rest of the title contenders and everyone but Barrichello, Kubica, and Kobayashi directly onto the circuit with nine minutes left in the final session for pole.  Both McLaren drivers were quite quick in the first sector, only to be barely outpaced by Vettel, with Barrichello matching them in the second sector on his first hot lap.  Hamilton’s 1:45.571 was quite quick, though not as much so as Alonso, who had the fastest lap to that point of the weekend, but nearly two tenths on Hamilton.  After the first laps, Alonso led Hamilton, Webber, Button, and Barrichello as the top five while neither Kubica nor Kobayashi had posted a time halfway through the ten minute session.
It was back into the garage for everyone with four minutes to go, though Barrichello and Kobayashi remained out on the clear circuit, joined by Kubica for his first run.  Webber was a half second off Hamilton’s time for third while Vettel was only seventh fastest as they all began their final runs for pole.  With two minutes left no one was in the garage and only time for one flying lap each.  Vettel appeared to be one of the first to start his final lap, fastest of all in the first sector.  Alonso was a tenth slower in that sector, but two tenths faster in their respective second sectors, and Vettel could not beat the Spaniard’s previously set time on his final lap, leaving the German in second, while Button beat Alonso in the second sector, and Alonso did not improve on his final lap.  Neither Hamilton nor Webber were faster than the two-time champion, nor was Button, leaving Alonso’s earlier fast time as the pole-setting lap.

Final Positions for the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix:
1. Alonso 1:45.390
2. Vettel 1:45.457
3. Hamilton 1:45.571
4. Button 1:45.944
5. Webber 1:45.977
6. Barrichello 1:46.236
7. Rosberg 1:46.443
8. Kubica 1:46.593
9. Schumacher 1:46.702
10. Kobayashi 1:47.884