Ferdinand Porsche designed the first Volkswagen Beetle and also developed the Auto Union grand prix cars, so the Porsche company's ties to VW go beyond a simple shareholder relationship.

From 1957 to 1962, Porsche had a works F1 team, although it only raced two complete seasons—1961 and 1962.

In 1961, behind Dan Gurney's three second-place finishes, Porsche ended the year third in the Constructors' Championship. The following season, Gurney took the team's only victory, at the French Grand Prix, where he was more than a lap ahead of second-place man Tony Maggs.

F1, even in 1962, was too expensive for [Porsche]—the British garagistes, with their bought-in drivetrains and modded off-the-shelf running gear, were reckoned to be spending half as much—while its challenger was too divorced from its road-going product to have much usefulness in either their improvement or promotion.

In 1983, Porsche rejoined the sport as an engine supplier to McLaren. The project was supported by Mansour Ojjeh's Techniques d'Avant Garde, and the 1.5-litre V6 turbocharged engines were branded TAG-Porsche.

The next season, Alain Prost and Niki Lauda combined to win 12 of 16 races with Lauda taking the drivers' title by half-a-point. McLaren were not as dominant in 1985, but did win a second straight constructors' title, with Prost taking the Drivers' Championship.

Prost won again in 1986 in his Porsche-powered McLaren MP4/2C, but Williams-Honda took the constructors' title and repeated in 1987. For 1988, McLaren switched to Honda power, while Porsche once again disappeared from F1.

The company made one more attempt as an engine supplier in 1991. But the Footwork team, powered by Porsche V12s, struggled to qualify for the early races of the season and suffered retirements whenever they did. After the Mexican Grand Prix, the team switched to Ford engines, ending Porsche's involvement in the sport.