There was so much excitement and anticipation surrounding the addition of an 11th team to F1 in the form of Cadillac that it’s no wonder Audi feels a bit ignored.
It was more than three years ago that Audi announced its entry into F1, and it was not until late 2022 that Sauber confirmed it would be a partner in the new venture. A completely new power unit division was established at the Neuburg an der Donau facility in southern Germany, culminating in the completion of the complete acquisition of Sauber.
Considering the evolution of what has been a hugely impressive F1 constructor for over 30 years, Audi probably hasn’t captured the imagination as much as Cadillac’s expansion team, but it hasn’t particularly tried to either.
While Audi has announced investments from Qatar and partnerships in the form of sponsors Revolt and Adidas, it wasn’t until May that Cadillac made a fuss in Miami to unveil its logo and identity.
In Munich in mid-November, it was finally Audi’s turn.
The timing was no coincidence, as Audi didn’t feel the need to make a big song and dance until it was actively on the grid. But with only the final three races of 2025 remaining before attention shifts to the new era, it’s definitely time for the German manufacturer to make headlines as the final race of the season approaches. And during a quick visit to the Audi Brand Experience Center on Wednesday, two key themes stood out.
One is the history of the brand. The concept livery of the R26 model, used to display the key colors that create Audi’s image in F1, may have been intended to reveal its 2026 identity, but it was a strong reminder that elite-level motorsport has long been part of the company.
The Auto Union Type C was the first car to appear ahead of the arrival of key figures including Audi CEO Gernot Dorner, Audi F1 project director Mattia Binotto and team boss Jonathan Wheatley, who were dropped off in Audi’s iconic car.
Drivers Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortleto, who also served as passengers in the iconic Audi Quattro rally car, were joined by legendary former drivers such as Tom Christensen, Hans-Joachim Stuck, Michel Mouton and Allan McNish.
They may not all be in F1, but they are respected as pioneers or benchmarks in their respective categories. And that’s something Audi can claim with its cars that won championships during the Group B era of rallying and the first diesel-powered victory at Le Mans with the R10 TDI. The Audi RS Q e-tron also became the first electric drivetrain to win the Dakar in 2024, joining the list of technology pioneers who have brought success to Audi in motorsport.
“I’m a car guy,” Wheatley says. “The moment I was approached about the possibility of joining the Audi F1 project, I don’t know, but I felt like something inside me was drawn to it. I didn’t feel like I was leaving somewhere to come here.”
“I spent years looking at these cars. I’m talking about Quattros in the woods with flames coming out of the exhaust, and if you want something to get you excited about as a kid, that’s it.”
“The technology that Audi has used to achieve success in motorsport has been extraordinary, and the appeal is what makes this project so exciting. What are we going to do differently? What are we going to do uniquely? How do we achieve our goals in a unique way?
“I’m very, very looking forward to that journey and I’m very, very excited. It feels like it’s actually happening now. It’s taken some time, but soon we’ll be an Audi F1 team.”
There was a lot of talk about this journey, but as the brand’s history was established and Audi provided the basis for inspiring confidence in its modern motorsport venture, it also put a real focus on what lies ahead.
A large countdown clock highlighted that there were (at the time) 115 days, 09 hours, 15 minutes and 29 seconds left until lights out for the 2026 season in Australia, and the most public start of Audi’s F1 story. But four years later, a bigger and more impressive goal was set for the team: to fight for the world championship starting in 2030.
It’s a goal that Binotto describes as “ambitious, because we are ambitious,” but Dorner also says its roots lie in the past successes of other new Audi motorsport projects.
“We’re probably the least directionally focused team right now because there’s so much new stuff coming together on this project,” admits Dorner. “It’s a new team and the team is in the start-up phase. So next year in particular is going to be very difficult. But like we said, we have long-term plans. It will be our job to learn fast, adapt and see how things go.”
“We did some benchmarking, we had some experience with other racing series, and we found the four-year period to be quite ambitious but realistic. So, that was the starting point.”
“We have a three-stage model. We start as a challenger, then we want to become a competitor, and from 2030 we will compete for victory in the third stage.”
This was repeated many times throughout the night, and Audi was keen to show it understood the challenges ahead, pointing to the string of four-wheeler wins that began that night as proof it could tackle those challenges effectively.
It’s a brave move to draw the line so early in the team’s history, but there are examples that prove Audi has experience in sticking to its goals. Hundreds of millions of dollars could have been allocated to improve Sauber’s infrastructure and facilities, but taking over the existing team on the chassis side would also help accelerate that timeline.
F1 is very different from the category in which it has been successful in the past, but Audi certainly has a track record that suggests it can at least tame it.