Audi reveals Porsche will also enter F1 in 2026
Aug.27 - Audi CEO Markus Duesmann on Friday let the cat out of the bag with regards to fellow VW-owned German carmaker Porsche's reported plans to also enter Formula 1.
Along with an Audi-liveried show car, it was finally revealed officially at Spa-Francorchamps that the Ingolstadt-based marque will enter F1 along with the new engine rules in 2026.
Duesmann, present for the announcement, told the media it is "very likely" that Audi will partner with an existing team to run the German-made works Audi engine.
Markus Duesmann, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG
That partnership is likely to be a 75 percent buyout of the team currently known as Alfa Romeo.
"We will announce the team at a later date," Duesmann insisted. "This will be done in the course of this year.
"We have spoken to several teams but have not decided yet."
Alfa Romeo - the Italian carmaker - on Friday also announced that it will be ending its naming sponsorship deal with the Swiss-based Sauber team at the end of 2023.
"Since the economic and industrial turnaround of the brand will be achieved in 2022, Alfa Romeo will now evaluate among the many opportunities on the table and decide which will be the best one to sustain the long term strategy and the positioning of the brand," Alfa Romeo said.
A Sauber-Audi pairing from 2026 is therefore extremely likely, but will differ substantially from Porsche's separate plans to team up with Red Bull Racing.
"We will have two separate projects - like we did at Le Mans. We will keep it that way in Formula 1," Duesmann said, thereby unofficially revealing that the Porsche announcement is now looming.
"This was a big discussion internally but both brands have their own fans. We will have completely different chassis and powertrain projects."
Paddock sources expect Porsche and Red Bull to make an announcement within the next 7 days.
"Our engine will be built in Germany, Porsche's in England," said Duesmann. "This approach makes sense because our customer groups are different."
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That's a shed-load of money for Volkswagen AG to pony up. TWO F1 teams, not one. Parallel everything.
I'm guessing that the annual operating budget for an F1 team is pushing $200 million? Someone please correct me. Let's pretend that's the going rate - VW will be committing almost half-a-billion dollars into their F1 aspirations. That doesn't include the other auto-sports pursuits like rallying, LeMans, GTC, etc.
That is also two more teams - maybe three with Andretti - slicing up the sponsorship-money pie as well by 2026.
God only know what the regulatory landscape will look like by then given Mercedes penchant for getting their way. It may well be that the Red Bull soap-box derbies will be more fun to watch.
well lets get it right, as engine suppliers there's no 200M entry fee, as a partner to Sauber and Rb, perhaps also no fee, ill have to double check with Ror regarding that , hes normally the Rule book guy, the engine maybe build in GB and DE but they'll be pretty much identical, just cross out Honda and stamp in P or A, Team budget about 140M , Engine budget at present, sky's the limit, whether its still like that in 26 who knows
Welll, Potato, Potahto - $140 million + bottomless engine budget. Any way you slice it, it's still a quarter-billion-dollars, minimum.
Wild, just wild.
If Audi start working on their engine tomorrow is that when the cap starts, if not what’s to stop them investing three times the amount each year. You can’t expect a new team to stay within the budget as it’s going to involve a substantial amount of money to get up to speed. Andretti will also need to invest heavily in infrastructure do they just build half a building because of the cap and build the rest the next year. It has to be a level playing field or else these teams will be starting a long way behind with no chance of catching up.
So if Audi start working on their engine tomorrow is that when the cap starts, if not what’s to stop them investing three times the amount each year. You can’t expect a new team to stay within the budget as it’s going to involve a substantial amount of money to get up to speed. Andretti will also need to invest heavily in infrastructure do they just build half a building because of the cap and build the rest the next year. It has to be a level playing field or else these teams will be starting a long way behind with no chance of catching up.
Exactly, Honda spend maybe 500M developing that Gp2 engine for Mcl.