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Porsche's failure in 2022 to launch a partnership with Red Bull was just one chapter in the brand's stormy relationship with F1. What gives?

The jewel of the Porsche 911 line-up, the GT3 RS, rockets from a standstill to 100 km/h in three seconds and hauls to a dead stop in a whisker over two-thirds of that. While such remarkable figures from a two wheel-drive, naturally aspirated package are guaranteed to earn Weissach's engineers their annual bonuses, they're also a metaphor for the flirtation of a partnership between its senior managers and Red Bull in F1 from 2026 onwards. It burned white-hot in July 2022 before hitting a brick wall, and turned to ash six weeks later.

In the wake of the feverish excitement over a courtship by motorsport's two most revered brands that culminated in Porsche being the runaway bride, it's a fling best forgotten. Yet the hype surrounding it has only served to dust off memories of Porsche's three other previous forays into the 72-year history of Formula One.

MEZGER'S MAGIC

Back in 1961, the 1,5-litre 718 RSK - initially developed as a sports car - was competitive in Formula 2. A change of rules in favour of increased safety allowed Porsche into F1 almost by accident, requiring the removal of one of the 718's seats for single-seater racing. Notwithstanding works backing and three second places wrestled from eight starts by Dan Gurney, the hodgepodge Porsche barely troubled the pace-setting Ferraris or Lotus-Climaxes.

The flat-eight-cylinder 804 (one of the legendary Porsche engineer Hans Mezger's first projects) of 1962 hoped to correct its forebear's shortcomings, but didn't. Gurney's victory at Rouen that year remains the only one ever achieved by a Porsche chassis/ engine combination in F1. Despite Porsche's half-million-pound investment, like the 718, the 804 was never the class of the field. Senior management was less than enamoured with F1's stratospheric cost-to-marketing-benefit ratio and the programme got the bullet by season's end.