Preparations for 2026 have started on the basis of Audi Sport

In 2026, the factory Audi team will make its debut in Formula 1, but so far little is known about this project. Anyway, the official information is rather stingy, and the German company isn’t even in a hurry to confirm its intention to acquire Sauber assets.

To find out at least some details, the journalists of the Austrian publication Motorsport-Magazin went to the city of Neuburg an der Donau, where the base of the Audi Sport racing division is located – here the next generation hybrid power plant will be made , and in fact this work has already begun.

“When the new Audi project was announced publicly, I even had to pinch myself,” recalls Stefan Dreyer, technical director of Audi Sport, responsible for developing the future engine. Audi seriously considered getting into Formula 1 over a year ago and Dreyer was one of the few to commit to these plans from the start.

The project is led by Adam Baker, who moved from the FIA ​​to Audi – all year before, he represented the Ingolstadt company at all meetings with the participation of Formula 1 teams, the championship leadership and the FIA, dedicated to the new regulations for power stations.

Of course, Audi was primarily negotiating with engine builders who already supply engines to championship teams.

“We were able to achieve a lot of what we wanted. This was our main condition, otherwise we would not have come to Formula 1,” said Dreyer. – In particular, it was decided to abandon such an element of the power plant as the MGU-H engine generator. On the one hand, it is technologically very complex and other engine manufacturers have gone way ahead in that respect. On the other hand, such units are not used in mass production of cars, so we had no interest in developing this technology.”

But while the Audi project is still at a very early stage – unlike Red Bull Powertrains, where they have already started bench testing a prototype of a new generation power plant. German engine builders are still a long way from that.

“You can only wonder what exactly they experience at Red Bull,” Dreyer continued. – But the fact remains: if they have already started bench testing, they can only be congratulated. This must be acknowledged. So now the word is ours. However, I don’t want to mention specific dates. First we need to submit the project within our company and get approval. Only after that will the next stage begin – its real incarnation.

Audi Formula Racing GmbH was officially registered in Ingolstadt on July 19, this division will be fully engaged in the development, production and subsequent marketing of racing engines.

“The division already employs a hundred specialists, but we plan to gradually increase the workforce to more than 300 employees,” said Dreyer. “I know my team, I know what our people are capable of and I trust them unconditionally. But until now, the staff is much smaller than is needed for such a project, so we have to hire people from other Audi divisions as well as experienced and knowledgeable specialists from outside.

When our project was officially announced, we were surprised how many people wanted to participate, and it’s great.

The Audi Sport base in Neuburg occupies an area of ​​47 hectares next to the factory test site, and here the famous sports prototypes of the LMP1 class, which once won Le Mans, were developed here, electric power plants for Formula E were created here when the Audi factory team took part in this championship. And at the moment the preparation of electric race cars for the Dakar rally raid, in which the most complex technologies are embodied, is in full swing.

When we talk about a new project related to Formula 1, there is not even the necessary infrastructure and equipment for it. Of course, the Audi mechanics have the most modern test benches at their disposal, but a lot of additional special equipment is needed – it is already purchased and installed in a separate building, which is already under construction.

There is ample space in the territory of the base, even for a new wind tunnel, although work was carried out, for example, on the sports prototypes that performed at the Sauber base in Hinwil during the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Audi is well aware that, despite all the sporting successes in the past, the company’s mechanics have no experience building power plants of the type used in Formula 1.

“We take the challenges ahead very seriously. We’ve never done anything like it,” Dreyer admitted. – In the DTM, engines develop 9500 rpm, diesel engines and even less. And in Formula 1, that’s about 12,500 rpm.

In addition, the valve mechanism with a pneumatic drive is also new to us. We have never dealt with pneumatic systems in the past. In our engines this mechanism was with a traditional drive. But we are engineers and we are ready to take on the creation of such a system, realizing that this is a difficult task.

We are also dealing with the development of our own transmission. The more machine components made by a single manufacturer, the more efficient the integration process. However, I am only talking about the internal components of the gearbox and the bodies will be made by those involved in the construction of the chassis.

If we weren’t aiming for wins, we wouldn’t be racing. This is what motivates us. But we’re not saying we can claim wins in the first year. It’s complicated. The bottom line, however, is that in the first year we will have to reach the required level of reliability, count on good results in individual races and modernize the equipment.

If we are not held back by certain problems in the course of this process, it means that we have been able to lay the foundation for future success…”