Audi Reveals Positive Milestone With Its 2026 Power Unit Development

Saajan Jogia | Sep 29, 2024

Audi F1 car / Audi

Audi F1's new CEO and CTO, Mattia Binotto has revealed that the team has claimed an important milestone in its Formula 1 journey with regard to the development of the 2026 power unit. The update arrives amid the German automaker's restructuring efforts and the hunt for a new driver for the 2025 season, as it prepares to conclude its takeover of the Sauber F1 team in 2026.

Audi is entering Formula 1 at a time when the sport transitions into a new era of regulations, where power units will rely on an equal split between electric energy and internal combustion. Determined to make a successful debut as a works team, Audi is investing heavily to establish itself in the premier class of motorsport.

Its recent efforts resulted in the hiring of the former Ferrari team principal, Binotto, which followed the signing of Red Bull's sporting director Jonathan Wheatley, who is set to take over the role of team principal mid-next year. While Audi works on the new engine, Binotto offered an update on its progress. He told the media:

“I’ve been visiting Neuberg in the last days and weeks.

“The engine is progressing well, running on the dyno, some long distances so far already performed.”

However, Binotto predicts that a performance gap will exist between Audi and the other works outfits such as Mercedes, Ferrari, Honda, and Red Bull Powertrains in collaboration with Ford, considering their seasoned existence in the premier class of motorsport that has offered them a wealth of knowledge. He added:

“But I think here as well, it’s a learning process.

 “We are competing with other organisations where manufacturers are settled down. Certainly, all the experience is pretty important and valid.

“So while I think the organisation there is great, the facilities are great, the programmes are going ahead, still there is a learning curve, which needs to be done. So I’m expecting initially to have a gap to recover. How big it will be, I think that you can never know.

“That only by the time we will be on track that we can only understand. But we’ve got more than a year from now to then.

“There is an intense programme on the dynos in development and it will be our task to make sure that we can enforce it, speeding up as much as we can, but try to be as competitive as we can be at the start of 2026.”

With a few months and a year left to go before Audi's official entry in Formula 1, the brand now looks to finalize its driver lineup for the 2025 season, with Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg already confirmed to be one of the two drivers.