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Audi’s dream in F1: is it possible to win in just three years?

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Audi’s dream in F1: is it possible to win in just three years?

Audi
Audi

Audi sets the goal of winning in Formula 1 within three years of entering the championship, in 2026, is it feasible?

Will we be able to see an Audi on top of the F1 podium before the decade is out? This week, almost two months after announcing its arrival in the championship, the German brand has presented the bases of its project to compete in the premier category of motorsport from 2026, and has put its first objectives on the table.

Audi enters Formula 1 and, as in any other category in which it has participated, from the World Rally Championship to Pikes Peak or the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the brand with the four rings thinks about winning. Adam Baker, head of the newly founded Audi Formula Racing GmbH, set a deadline of three years to achieve victories.

Is it too ambitious a goal? Is it feasible to fulfill it? Obviously we don’t have a crystal ball to know, but we can build on what others have done in recent years and look at how Audi enters F1 from 2026.

A change of cycle in F1 key for Audi

Gallery of the presentation of the Audi F1 project for 2026, with Adam Baker.

Audi has decided to get involved in Formula 1 for the first time in its history as an engine manufacturer. They will be in charge of developing the new V6 Turbo hybrid power units with 350 kW of electrical power that will come into force, precisely, from 2026.

Thus, the brand will start from scratch with this regulation, but like the rest of its competitors, and that is already an important point. The manufacturer is already working on developing its unit at its Neuburg an der Donau headquarters, with a budget cap of €90m per year until its entry into F1 in 2026.

“We recognize the scale of the challenge. Our advantage over other manufacturers who have tried before without success is that we have a lot of time to prepare, and that the regulations start a new cycle, the biggest change that F1 is going to experience in modern times,” Baker told the media on Monday.

“To win you have to be more innovative than the competition, but with fixed costs. For this reason, it is also necessary to innovate in other concepts: financial, strategic, logistical… We have a very solid financial plan designed for the long term, and we know that having a suitable partner will be essential to think about success”, he added.

Audi will enter F1 with a partner yet to be announced, but it is assumed that it is Sauber, a team that now has the sponsorship of Alfa Romeo and that Audi is believed to end up buying. This may be a key to the success of the project, because as has been seen throughout history, the Swiss structure has achieved great results when it has had economic investments.

Recall, for example, 2008, when BMW Sauber achieved its first and only victory in Formula 1 in a year in which even Robert Kubica dreamed of being champion. However, due to the economic crisis, BMW left at the end of 2009 and Sauber began its decline.

The Swiss company has a reference engineering center in Hinwil (its wind tunnel has even been used by Audi), which with money will take an important step forward. For its part, Audi will have a reference facility in Neuburg (Germany), where the engine is already being developed with a view to testing it on the track in mid-2025.

Audi Rally Morocco

Audi

It cannot be overlooked that Audi has professionals who know what it is to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a hybrid prototype and also what it is to win stages in the Dakar with an electric drive vehicle. The experience of these projects will also be a boost for Formula 1. And, in addition, reinforcements will probably arrive from other teams.

Winning in three years, or what is the same, before the end of the decade, will also depend on the level of the rivals. One of the toughest will be Red Bull, which has shown that it understands perfectly with Honda, with whose technology it has formed its own engine department; Everything indicates that, together with them, they will also create the 2026 engine.

And then there will be Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault… and who knows if there will be any surprises, because we can’t forget that Porsche also wants to be part of this new era for F1. Victory will be more expensive than ever, but there is no doubt that Audi has all the necessary ingredients to ‘cook’ a good debut in the premier class of motorsport.

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