With just three more races to go in the 2025 F1 World Championship, the foreshadowing to next season is starting. Audi does that by launching their F1 Project website and branding, showing impressions of a 2026 mule car in Audi colours, the R36.
Renowned brand new to F1
The F1 entrance of Audi in 2026 is a new step for the renowned brand. The Ingolstadt based car manufacturer has however a rich history in motorsports.
Starting as early as the 1930’s, the famous four rings were winning. Pre-war Grand Prix greats such as Tazio Nuvolari and Bernd Rosemeyer steered to multiple race wins and a European Championship. After the war, the Audi brand became a power house in the World Rally Championship with the infamous Audi Quattro cars.
In the 1990’s Audi ventured into touring car racing. In both the domestic DTM series and the infamous Super Touring era of the BTCC the brand showed it belonged in motorsports.
What followed was perhaps the biggest stretch of domination in motorsports history. Audi entered the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1999, only to win the race every year from 2000 to 2013, except 2003 and 2009.
In recent years Audi ventured into Formula E, before eventually taking on the F1 project for 2026 and beyond.
Building on other racing pedigree
When the next season arrives, Audi does not have to start with a blank slate however. Last year they announced they would be partnering with F1 staple Sauber. The Hinwill-based outfit entered F1 in 1993 after having raced in sports cars for over two decades, including winning the World Sportscar Championship twice.
Since then, the team has had mixed results. In the early years the team was a decent midfield team, first backed by Mercedes-Benz and later by Red Bull. Despite a few podium finishes, they did’t manage to make the step to the front as being a privateer in F1 became increasingly difficult.
So manufacturer-backing was obtained by becoming the BMW works team from 2006 onwards. This resulted in a first -and so far only- with Robert Kubica in 2008. A win that could have been followed up by a championship, if it weren’t for the focus-shift to 2009.
After 2009, BMW withdrew and the team was back to being their midfield selves. Podiums were scarce, and they eventually partnered up with Alfa-Romeo to keep the team afloat.
Unfortunately, the results barely improved. So when Audi showed interest to be an actual partner instead of a label, the choice to partner up with them was easy.
What will the new era bring?
The Audi F1 Project looks to be a serious effort by the German brand, with the 2026 regulations catered specificly towards OEM’s. But whether results come quick enough for the board remains to be seen, as was clear with the BMW-partnership.
Fortunately, the team can rely on massive motorsports experience. Both in Ingolstadt and Hinwill the people now what is needed to be successful. And with top F1 managers Mattia Binotto and Jonathan Wheatley on board, there is little in the way of making the project a success.
