Audi aims to fight for F1 title 'from 2030' as silver colours unveiled

While the main grand prix squad will still be run from the Swiss team’s Hinwil factory, the new power units will be built in Neuberg with a British satellite base in Bicester providing further technical support.

The project has already seen sizeable upheaval since the takeover was first announced in 2022, and Gernot Döllner, chair of Audi’s management board, said that forging a new team from the existing operation remained a work in progress.

“The biggest challenge today is really transforming Sauber into the Audi team,” he said. “Transforming it in terms of team mentality, size, ambition, as well as merging different locations. It’s not a concern at all; our next challenge is becoming the Audi F1 team.”

Former McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl originally headed up Audi’s F1 programme from early 2023 but was removed 18 months later, along with Sauber chairman Oliver Hoffman, due to concerns the project wasn’t progressing as well as hoped.

With F1 more competitive and technically complex than ever, Binotto is clear about the mountain it still has to climb. “The Audi F1 project is the most exciting project in motorsports, if not in sports overall,” he said.

“The goal is clear: to fight for championships by 2030. Becoming a champion is a journey of progress. Mistakes will happen, but learning from them is what drives transformation.”

After Binotto was hired midway through 2024, it was announced that Red Bull’s longtime sporting director Jonathan Wheatley would serve as Audi’s team boss underneath the Italian.

He too emphasised the path the Audi project is on to one day fight up front. As well as mastering 2026’s new, and extremely complicated, 1.6-litre V6 engine which features a much-increased electrical element, teams have been tasked with incorporating additional active aerodynamics on cars.

“This journey is not just about the destination but about engaging with the people who make every step possible,” said Wheatley. “It is about your mindset, focus, resilience and confidence without complacency.

“Championship-winning teams are not built on magic – they are built on people who believe: in each other, in the process, and in the destination.

“Our project is more than building a team. It is about shaping the future of F1 – with talent, visionary partners and the transformation of the Audi brand. We have a mindset that dares to redefine what a racing team can be.”

The first 2026 test takes place in private from January 26 in Barcelona, with the first public session in Bahrain on February 11. The first glimpse of Audi’s definition of a racing team will be revealed then.