Audi will enter the Formula 1 world championship in 2026, coinciding with the new engine regulations that will revolutionize the highest category of world motorsport. He will do it hand in hand with the team Sauber (Currently Alfa Romeo), which will not only supply the engines, but will be in charge of the development of the entire car.
The German brand has already launched a project in which it will inject 270 million euros in the next three years, an investment with which they hope to catch up with the leading teams on the grid since their first season in the “big circus”.
So far Sauber and Audi have avoided making statements about the aims of the new structure, but now Marcus DuesmanCEO of Audi, assures that the objective is to make the brand with the four rings world champion.
“We are not going to enter Formula 1 on a whim.we want to show what we can do,” Duesman told ‘Der Spiegel.
Audi chief assures that they want to repeat in Formula 1 the success they have had in other categories, such as global resistance where to Formula E: “We have done everything to win in all the championships in which we have participated. So far, we have always succeeded.”
The precedents do not invite optimism
Despite Audi’s heavy investments, recent history shows that new manufacturers take years to achieve good results. Honda income from the hand of McLaren in 2015 and it took him seven seasons to win a World Cup, that of 2021 with Red Bull. Renault He returned to Formula 1 in 2016 and his best result to date was fourth last season.
The most successful example is that of mercedes, which dominated virtually the entire “hybrid era”, although the star team went four seasons without winning until in 2014 they won their first championship. With these precedents, everything indicates that Audi’s path to the top of Formula 1 will not be as easy as the Germans hope.