While waiting for Porsche, here is Audi: the German manufacturer will make its debut in Formula 1 in 2026 as an engine manufacturer, its CEO announced on Friday during a press conference on the sidelines of the Belgian Grand Prix.
Audi will develop its hybrid engine in Neuburg-on-the-Danube, Bavaria, and will enter into a partnership with an F1 world championship team “to be announced by the end of the year”, explained Markus Duesmann at Spa Francorchamps.
That team could be Sauber, which currently races in F1 as Alfa Romeo and is powered by Ferrari, according to the trade press.
One more clue came to reinforce this hypothesis on Friday, with the announcement by Alfa Romeo of the end of its partnership with Sauber, at the end of 2023. Free, the team based in Hinwill could thus ally with Audi and provide it with the chassis. .
“Perfect Timing”
The Volkswagen group brand joins Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault and Red Bull (with Honda technology) as engine supplier of the premier category of motorsport.
The announcement comes ten days after the FIA World Motor Sport Council approved new engine regulations for Formula 1 cars for 2026.
“It’s perfect timing, with the new rules: F1 is changing in a way that allows us to arrive, with a very important part of the electric” in the hybrid engine, developed Markus Duesmann, present in Belgium alongside Stefano Domenicali, CEO of Formula 1, and Mohammed Ben Sulayem, President of the International Automobile Federation (FIA).
The engines, already hybrid since 2014, will see from 2026 an increase in electrical energy and will use 100% sustainable fuels, a prerequisite for the German brand.
“We have decided to become a 100% electric car manufacturer” by 2033, recalled the CEO of the luxury brand with the four rings.
Audi also underlined the importance of the already existing budget cap for the teams, and the implementation in 2023 of another cap, on the costs for the engine manufacturers this time.
“It’s a major event for our sport, applauded Stefano Domenicali. This is an important recognition that our choice of sustainable fuel hybrid engines in 2026 is a future-proof solution for the automotive sector.”
Audi, engaged like the entire Volkswagen group in a vast electric shift, hopes to take advantage of F1, in full revival of interest in recent years, to display its technologies and more “green” ambitions.
His arrival also marks the return of production on German soil of an F1 engine, Mercedes designing its own in the United Kingdom.
The manufacturer is modifying the already existing infrastructures of Audi sport in Neubourg to bring them “to F1 standards”, explained its president.
With Sauber?
If they lifted the veil on their program, both figuratively and literally, by presenting a demonstration single-seater in the colors of Audi, gray areas remain to be clarified.
The possibility of setting up a full-fledged team was ruled out and Audi discussed with several teams for an association. “Depending on the team, the form of our commitment will be different,” announced Markus Duesmann.
If McLaren, Aston Martin or Williams have been mentioned in the context of a takeover or a partnership, Sauber – which will continue to race until the end of 2023 under the name of its title sponsor Alfa Romeo – now appears as the partner most likely.
The arrival in F1 of Audi, 13 times winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, marks the end of its program to return to endurance (Lmdh category). On the other hand, Audi still intends to win the Dakar with its hybrid engine, the first of its kind in the famous rally-raid.
Another brand of the Volkswagen group, Porsche, should soon announce its arrival in F1.
Markus Duesmann spoke of “two completely separate programs: we are going to have our infrastructure in Germany, and if Porsche comes in, they will have theirs in the UK”.
This clarification points in the direction, for the Stuttgart brand, of a possible return via a partnership with Red Bull: a 50% takeover of the Austrian team based in Milton Keynes (England), current championship leader of the world.
Porsche, unlike Audi, has already had three periods in F1: in the early 1960s as a factory team, as an engine manufacturer for McLaren (1983-1987) then in 1991 for the short-lived Footwork team.