The VW Group has given the green light for Audi and Porsche to enter Formula 1 in 2026. Audi has kept an eye on the Sauber racing team, and Porsche is said to have already reached an agreement with Red Bull Racing.
The Swiss Formula 1 team Sauber drives with Ferrari rental engines under the marketing name Alfa Romeo. But now Audi is on the scene.
There is a good chance that the Swiss Sauber racing team will team up with a German manufacturer for the third time in its Formula 1 history. After Mercedes and BMW, the Ingolstadt brand Audi could not only deliver engines to Hinwil from 2026, but also take over the entire racing team. This is a surprising turning point in the Volkswagen Group’s decision-making process, which has been going on for months, about entering the premier class of motorsport.
Entry is only possible with sustainable engine regulations
On the eve of the race weekend in Melbourne, where the Australian Grand Prix is due, the VW supervisory board in Wolfsburg made a far-reaching decision. According to this, both Audi and Porsche now have a free hand to get involved in Grand Prix racing. The prerequisite for this, however, is new engine regulations that offer newcomers good opportunities and, above all, must be sustainable.
The latter is as good as decided. In the future, Formula 1 cars will run on sustainable e-fuels, and 50 percent of the engines will be electrified. The regulations must be adopted by the end of the year. The main struggle is to accommodate the newcomers. Established manufacturers such as Ferrari and Mercedes do not want to give up their know-how advantage so easily. Volkswagen, on the other hand, wants to avoid too long a start-up time.
A very special new lid for the Australian GP ? @ValtteriBottas #AlfaRomeo #ORLEN #FromGP pic.twitter.com/hGrj6KjzsG
— Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN (@alfaromeoorlen) April 7, 2022
The strategies of Audi and Porsche, which have competed against each other at Le Mans for years, are very different. Porsche delivered an outstanding turbo engine to McLaren back in the 1980s, and now they should be in agreement with Red Bull Racing. On the one hand, this has to do with the Austrian owner families, on the other hand, the Stuttgart-based company could build on the Honda engines that the team is currently servicing themselves.
Audi would like to take over an entire racing team
The Formula 1 newcomer Audi, on the other hand, is more interested in taking over an entire racing team. So far, McLaren has been considered the favorite because of the possibility that Audi could then take over the British sports car brand of the same name. Audi CEO Markus Duesmann once gained Formula 1 experience himself at BMW-Sauber, and he knew McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl from that time. Takeover bids in the billions have been rumored for some time now. But the Brits don’t necessarily want to sell, at least they’re still playing poker.
In the meantime, Audi has been looking for a cheaper, more obvious and no less promising alternative – and found it in the Zurich Oberland. Finally, there are already close relationships with the Sauber motorsport group, whose Formula 1 team is currently competing under the marketing name Alfa Romeo with rental Ferrari engines. The Swedish racing team owner Finn Rausing is probably not averse to sales talks, he has already conducted negotiations with the US motorsport great Michael Andretti. Rausing doesn’t necessarily want to capitalize on the current Formula 1 boom, but he does want to know that the racing team he saved is in safe hands.
In the case of Audi, a personal connection comes into play. The current technical director in Hinwil, Jan Monchaux, held the same position in the Audi motorsport department, and the Ingolstadt-based company has also been using the wind tunnel in Hinwil for a long time. In the meantime, Audi has confirmed that it is “in the final phase of the evaluation”. This includes an offer from Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll for a joint venture with his Aston Martin team.