Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Global
Breaking news

Volkswagen chief quits, opens door for Formula 1 project

The chairman of Volkswagen, Ferdinand Piech, has quit – effectively opening the door for one of the car manufacturer’s many brands to enter Formula 1.

The 2015 Volkswagen Polo R

The 2015 Volkswagen Polo R

Volkswagen Motorsport

VW team area
VIP rides in the VW Polo R WRC
VW Boss Martin Winterkorn during the Volkswagen Press Conference
#7 Audi Sport Team Joest R18 e-tron quattro: Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer, Benoit Tréluyer
VW detail
VAG Chaiman of the Board Martin Winterkorn and Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich watch the end of the race while the last Peugeot 908 on track retires
VIP rides in the VW Polo R WRC
Dr Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of AUDI AG, with Mattias Ekström and Dr Werner Mischke (Lamborghini)
#8 Bentley Team M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3: Maximilian Buhk, Andy Soucek, Maxime Soulet
#44 Global Motorsports Group Racing Audi R8 LMS Ultra: Brent Holden
Tengyi Jiang, Seat Leon Racer , Target Competition  and Pepe Oriola, SEAT Leon Racer, Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL
Armin Kremer and Klaus Wicha, Skoda Fabia S2000

Piech – the 78-year-old chief of the Volkswagen Group – resigned from his role on Saturday. He has long been viewed as the reason VW had not entered F1 in recent times, due to his personal feud with F1's commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone.

As previous reported by Motorsport.com, Piech had been effectively shunned by the VW Executive Committee of the Supervisory Board recently.

However, his move to resign is understood to have taken the Group by surprise.

VW’s Supervisory Board recommended that CEO Martin Winterkorn be offered a new extensive and long-term contract from 2016 onward, after Piech had been attempting to orchestrate Winterkorn’s removal.

Piech had become isolated after a five-to-one vote against him and in Winterkorn’s favour.

An emergency meeting had been called to resolve the internal power struggle – essentially a showdown between Piech and Winterkorn – and now the end game has played out.

Deputy Chairman Berthold Huber has assumed leadership of the board until the election of a new chairman.

Background to a boardroom battle

The boardroom shift could set in motion a new decision-making processes that would mean the VW Group restructures its motorsport programme in the coming 18 months.

The VW Group currently structures its racing successfully around the thriving World Endurance Championship (Audi and Porsche), the World Rally Championship, Rallycross and F3 (VW) and GT racing (Bentley and Lamborghini). It produces road cars under the brands Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, SEAT, Skoda and VW.

Audi last year employed three key ex-F1 staff members. They were ex-Ferrari F1 team team principal Stefano Domenicali, former BMW and Williams engineer Jorg Zander and Gabriele Delicolli, who is a former Ferrari simulator specialist.

Winterkorn a ‘racing fan’

Winterkorn took over as CEO of VW Group from Bernd Pischetsrieder in 2007. Prior to that, he had worked as Chairman of the Board at Audi AG, and was a big supporter of its racing projects in sportscars and the DTM.

Winterkorn has overseen the expansion and growth of VW Group in recent years to further enhance its status as the leader of EU automakers.

Piech, a member of the Porsche family who strategically moved the ailing brand upmarket from its 1990s doldrums, recently criticized Winterkorn for VW's poor performance in the USA.

This sparked the showdown between them – and ultimately his exit.

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Competition: Win a copy of Darren Heath's new photo book "Art of the Race"
Next article Investing in the future of Formula 1

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Global