According to the CEO, Lamborghini has no desire to compete in Formula One. Whereas the involvement of Lamborghini in the most popular of all motorsports was limited to a brief stint as an engine supplier and subsequently a full car (in 1991 with the V12-powered 291, albeit branded as a Modena car), Stephan Winkelmann told TopGear.com that Formula One is not on the company’s agenda. As per Winkelman’s statement, they feel that Formula One is not part of the company’s future vision since motorsport always has some connection to street-legal cars.
Although his competitors at Audi and Porsche may have something to say about that (with Volkswagen group Group boss Herbert Diess confirming that the two brands’ have some interest in F1), an entrance into endurance racing is part of Lambo’s future. It recently announced that it is developing a hybrid hypercar to compete in the upper tier of endurance racing in 2024.
Winkelmann explained to Top Gear that the LMDh and endurance racing have lots to do with how they can transform tech into street-legal cars, whereas Formula One does not. Those Lamborghini hypercar racers will, in fact, serve as a testbed for the company’s upcoming hybrid supercars, which will debut next year with the unveiling of the next-generation Aventador.
But, aside from the technology transfer, Winkelmann’s squad is simply too busy. He stated that they had begun with a one-make racing series, which was a big step for them during that time, referring to the company’s first foray into motorsport in 2009.
“This one [the upcoming LMDh entry] is eating up all of our resources in terms of manpower and development capacity,” he added. He explained that with all the changes they are making to the normal line-up, there is no plan to be part of Formula One. This is a real shame as it would’ve been awesome to see a Lamborghini light up the F1 layout…