On Wednesday night time Audi kicked off its 2026 entry with a launch occasion in Munich, showcasing an idea livery for its first-ever Components 1 challenger.
Here is what we discovered from the occasion about Audi’s method and ambitions.
1. Audi views F1 as long-term undertaking and desires to win titles by 2030, however thinks it might “compete” earlier than
There has by no means been any doubt that Audi sees its F1 undertaking via a long-term prism, and the manufacturer’s ambition to fight for the world championship by 2030 had been communicated already. But it surely was fascinating to listen to Audi CEO Gernot Doellner set out his expectations for all the five-year interval main as much as what he hopes can be success.
“The following two years we can be ‘challengers’,” he mentioned. “We’ve to enhance from the place we’re as we speak and have ambitions additionally for 2026 and 2027. These years are the ‘challenger years’ and from there we wish to grow to be, from 2028 on, actual opponents after which from 2030 on to combat for the championship.”
The marque’s long-term funding and big upfront price of coming into F1 additionally displays why it has been so vocal in opposition to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s concept to fast-track the subsequent era of laws, which was shortly shot down. “We made it clear that we’re completely pleased with the laws now we have from 2026 on and that we want fairly some years of stability as a result of we won’t change to basically totally different laws inside a two-year interval,” defined Doellner.
“That’s economically not attainable not just for us however for all the opposite groups. If there is a subsequent [set of] laws to be outlined, it needs to be additional sooner or later with a timing round 2029 or 2030 and never earlier than that.”
Audi F1 Staff RS26 idea livery
Photograph by: Audi Sport
2. Audi sees twin chassis and energy unit problem as a should
Audi appears to grasp that success in F1 would not magically present itself in a single day, and it has a mountain of labor to do each on the facility unit facet in Neuburg and on the chassis facet at Sauber’s headquarters in Hinwil.
Taking management of each side without delay is kind of a danger, taking up the may of F1 energy unit producers Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda from 12 months one. However in response to former Ferrari staff principal and engine chief Mattia Binotto, who joined the Audi F1 undertaking as its CTO and COO, holding each the chassis and engine improvement in-house was a ‘should’ to achieve success.
“In an effort to grow to be profitable and a profitable staff sooner or later – sure, it could add complexity – but it surely’s a requirement. Having the total management on each the chassis and the facility unit offers you a aggressive benefit, a technical benefit. And since for Audi, it is not solely about collaborating, but it surely’s about profitable. It was like a given, I’d say. So, we settle for the complexity as a result of now we have a transparent ambition.”
3. Audi CEO Doellner has now purchased into F1 undertaking
Audi’s choice to affix F1 – first as an influence unit producer earlier than shopping for into Sauber – was a choice that predates Doellner, taken by then-CEO Marcus Dussmann.
That prompted questions on whether or not its incoming CEO was as eager on the costly expedition as his predecessor was. However Doellner says that F1 is “now completely my undertaking”, having been behind plans to fast-track its takeover of Sauber in 2024 as a result of he felt its authentic plans weren’t reducing it.
“Once I took over the position as CEO of Audi two years in the past, we had a comparatively early undertaking evaluation of the Components 1 undertaking as we had evaluations of each undertaking inside Audi after I stepped in,” Doellner mentioned. “We analysed that to grow to be profitable in Components 1 we wanted an much more bold undertaking arrange than the one I discovered.
“We determined to take over the Sauber staff sooner than within the authentic plans and to herald an exterior investor [Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund] to make the undertaking the proper one to grow to be profitable. With that call, we arrange our new administration staff and now it is completely my undertaking.”
Gernot Doellner, Audi CEO
Photograph by: Audi Sport
4. Improved 2025 kind is making Audi transition simpler
A dismal and demoralising 2024 marketing campaign, through which Sauber solely managed to attain factors on the tail finish of the season, showcased simply how a lot work was forward to show Audi’s future manufacturing facility staff right into a aggressive drive.
However the German model’s train has been made simpler by Sauber’s resurgence in current months, with Nico Hulkenberg taking a protracted overdue podium in Silverstone and the staff genuinely difficult for factors on any given weekend. Based on staff principal Jonathan Wheatley, that return to the thick of the motion in F1’s tight midfield has given Hinwil an actual spring in its step.
“Audi’s funding and perception within the staff is extraordinary and the staff feels it,” mentioned the previous Crimson Bull man. “Each single day we will really feel the progress we’re making and the staff’s beginning to imagine in itself now. And that is so necessary when it comes to constructing momentum and shifting ahead.
“It is a very thrilling office in the meanwhile. And I believe in order for you a manifestation of that, the staff virtually carried out the unbelievable in Brazil final weekend in constructing a brand-new automobile for Gabriel in an extremely brief time period. This staff wouldn’t have been ready to do this a 12 months in the past and that does not come from instruments or funding, that comes from spirit and from the staff believing in itself.”
5. Audi’s design language is a giant departure from Sauber
If Wednesday’s Munich launch made one factor crystal clear, it is that the brand new staff can be… very Audi. The crisp, virtually mechanical design language of its 2026 idea livery – which featured loads of black and silver in addition to pink hues, contrasts starkly with the present Sauber staff, together with its partnerships with streaming platform Kick, on-line playing firm Stake and its daring black and acid inexperienced livery.
Audi will little doubt be stamping its new identification and design language on Sauber’s Hinwil headquarters as properly, which is able to see large upgrades together with a brand new employees campus. Audi has additionally commissioned a brand new motorhome to exchange the earlier set up which served the squad since its BMW years. So, whereas nearly all of employees will stay the identical, together with 2026 drivers Hulkenberg and Bortoleto, the brand new squad could have a distinctly totally different appear and feel about it.
Jonathan Wheatley, Audi Staff Principal and Mattia Binotto, Head of Audi F1 Challenge
Photograph by: Audi Sport
6. Audi can study as a lot from F1 as F1 can study from Audi
One accusation typically levelled at automobile producers coming into F1 is that they assume whichever strategies made them profitable within the automobile trade will translate one-to-one with F1, which is a vastly totally different enterprise. Doellner’s feedback counsel Audi will not fall into that lure, and that whereas Audi feels it might deliver a few of its methodologies to the staff, it might additionally study rather a lot from the pace at which an F1 squad operates. Doellner will in the meantime depart the operating of the staff within the palms of the Binotto-Wheatley tandem.
“Undoubtedly, Components 1 is completely totally different from collection manufacturing automobile improvement,” he acknowledged. “The Components 1 undertaking can be dealt with by the Components 1 administration staff, Mattia and Jonathan. And it is our aim as company Audi to essentially defend the Components 1 staff in pace and of their set-up.
“After all, Audi will help with some strategies, applied sciences within the background. However we do this in a really structured course of. And however, I’d say that company Audi can study rather a lot concerning teamwork, staff set-up and pace. And we are attempting to steadiness that and to study on each side.”
However Audi would not have signed up if it hadn’t been for F1’s new 2026 engine guidelines and its push in direction of sustainable fuels, so it’s anticipating to see a tech switch in these areas. “To me the spirit of F1, relating to tips on how to develop a automobile and loads of facets of the F1 automobile, is very related for the collection manufacturing automobile, particularly the concept of getting laws that begin with effectivity and sustainability,” Doellner added. “Our know-how switch in fairly some areas may even be seen.”
7. Domenicali look reveals how a lot F1 values Audi
Alongside Doellner, Binotto and Wheatley, F1 CEO and president Stefano Domenicali additionally made an look in Munich, which reveals simply how a lot F1 administration and its proprietor Liberty Media worth the German model’s addition to the paddock.
In Audi, F1 has discovered one other keen accomplice to assist develop the championship, particularly within the all-important North American market. It was no coincidence Audi invited a number of specialised US media to its press junket, and the German big is thought to be holding conversations with numerous promoters over 2026 hospitality choices and different campaigns.
Stefano Domenicali, CEO of the Components One Group and Silvia Colombo
Photograph by: Getty Photographs
“F1 must be related, and the truth that we obtain a brand new producer in our sport implies that the relevancy from the technical perspective is one level that has been achieved,” Domenicali mentioned. “In any other case, such an necessary producer like Audi would not embrace this new journey.
“We wish to be sure that the connection with Audi will keep so long as attainable. I do not even wish to put type of an finish [date on it], it is simply beginning. So, I can take the chance to thank Gernot for the invitation, it means rather a lot to me for a lot of causes. However actually, it’s the begin of a brand new period of Components 1.”
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