Porsche's path into Formula One began through Formula Two, where the company's sports-car-derived 718 RSK had demonstrated promising lap times when entered in F2 races. Porsche modified the two-seater by moving the driver's seat to the centre of the car, then built proper open-wheel single-seaters powered by 1,500 cc engines.
When the new 1.5-litre formula took effect in 1961, Porsche moved its former Formula Two cars up to Formula One competition. The existing design, however, was not competitive under the new regulations. For 1962, Porsche developed a new, more refined car, the Porsche 804, powered by a flat-eight engine. Dan Gurney drove the 804 to Porsche's only victory as a Formula One constructor at the 1962 French Grand Prix. One week later, Gurney repeated the result at the non-championship Solitude Grand Prix in Stuttgart, in front of a German home crowd.
At the end of the 1962 season, Porsche withdrew from Formula One, citing the high financial cost of the program and the recently completed acquisition of the Reutter coachbuilding factory. Volkswagen and German supplier companies showed little commercial interest in Formula One sponsorship, which remained too remote from road car development for Porsche's business case. Privateers continued to enter the outdated Porsche 718 in Formula One races through 1964, but without factory involvement.
Porsche's second Formula One involvement came through a commercial engine supply arrangement rather than as a constructor. The TAG electronics company, whose owner Mansour Ojjeh was paying for the engine program, commissioned Porsche to design a Formula One V6 turbocharged engine for the McLaren team beginning in 1983. The arrangement required Porsche to produce an engine to very specific physical requirements issued by McLaren's chief designer John Barnard, who specified the layout to fit his proposed car. Because Porsche's typical flat-engine architecture would have been too wide for aerodynamic reasons, a 90-degree V6 configuration was adopted. The engines were badged as TAG units rather than Porsche, though "Made by Porsche" identification eventually appeared as it became clear the engines were competitive.
TAG-Porsche-powered McLarens took two Constructors' Championships in 1984 and 1985, and three Drivers' titles in 1984, 1985, and 1986. Niki Lauda won the 1984 championship with McLaren, and Alain Prost took the 1985 and 1986 titles with the same combination. McLaren achieved 25 victories with the TAG-Porsche unit between 1984 and 1987, with 19 of those going to Prost.
Despite the championship record, the TAG-Porsche engines were not the most powerful in Formula One during the turbo era. The engine could not sustain the extreme boost levels run by rival BMW, Renault, Ferrari, and Honda units, and Porsche and TAG declined to develop dedicated high-boost qualifying engines as requested by their drivers, citing the cost versus the marginal benefit given the engines' reliability and fuel economy advantage in race trim.
Porsche made a third attempt at Formula One in 1991 as an engine supplier to the Footwork Arrows team, this time with a 3.5-litre naturally aspirated V6 designated the 3512. The project was a failure. The engine was significantly overweight, and suffered severe oil starvation problems leading to frequent failures. Footwork Arrows did not score a single point with the Porsche unit and failed to qualify in more than half of the races that season. The partnership was terminated mid-season, with Footwork switching to Cosworth DFR engines. Porsche has not participated in Formula One since.
Porsche's Formula One record is defined by contrast: the TAG-Porsche turbo era produced some of the sport's most dominant seasons in the mid-1980s, while the 1961 constructor campaign and the 1991 engine supply were both brief and commercially unrewarding. Dan Gurney's 1962 French Grand Prix victory remains the sole race win achieved by a Porsche-constructed car in World Championship Formula One competition. The TAG-Porsche unit's championship success, by contrast, placed Porsche's engineering among the most accomplished of the turbo era despite the brand's name appearing only as a secondary badge on McLaren's cars.