If things are a little quieter in the new Formula 1 factory in Neuburg an der Donau these days, it is at most due to the autumn holidays in the Free State of Bavaria. The project, worth several hundred million euros, has long been underway by VW subsidiary Audi.
We have long been working towards starting the 2026 season with our own factory team after taking over the traditional Swiss racing team Sauber, also before the Brazilian Grand Prix in Interlagos, which is around 10,000 kilometers away from Ingolstadt. But rumors keep coming up that Audi won’t get involved as planned.
Remarkably, even Jürgen Rittersberger’s latest announcement probably won’t change much at first. “We have a clear decision-making situation on the board of directors and the supervisory board,” said Audi AG’s board of directors for finance, law and IT recently at a meeting with business media to publish the brand’s financial figures.
According to Rittersberger, entry should come
According to this, Audi increased sales by 16 percent to 1.4 million vehicles in the first nine months, thus shortening the gap to its competitors BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Sales rose by 13 percent to 50.4 billion euros, but operating profit fell by 26 percent to 4.6 billion euros and profit after taxes from 5.8 to 4.5 billion euros. In connection with Formula 1, Rittersberger emphasized: “We are sticking to our schedule for entry in 2026. There is no other decision.”
A decision that was announced in August 2022 – within the appropriate framework. Those responsible chose the Formula 1 weekend in Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. Also present were Formula 1 managing director Stefano Domenicali, the president of the International Automobile Association FIA, Mohammed ben Sulayem, and, alongside Oliver Hoffmann, board member for technical development, and above all Markus Duesmann, then chairman of the board of Audi AG.
Formula 1 not “for fun and tricks”
“With the new regulations, now is the right time for us to get started,” he emphasized at the press conference at the time – in 2026, Formula 1 wants to take another big step in sustainability with an engine reform. Duesmann later said that Audi didn’t want to do Formula 1 “as a joke,” but to show “what we can do. The Olympic idea of just wanting to be there doesn’t support us.” Duesmann even spoke about conversations with Mick Schumacher that had not yet taken place at the time. While the chassis will be built at Sauber in Hinwil, Switzerland, the heart – the engine – will come from Neuburg an der Donau. That’s the plan.
Since September 1st, Duesmann is no longer the Audi boss, but Gernot Döllner, who was previously responsible for the VW Group’s overall strategy. And he has a kind of duty of confidentiality for the first 100 days in his new office. The impression: As long as Döllner doesn’t talk about the Formula 1 project, others prefer to speculate over and over again about a possible exit, which would, however, also cost a lot of money given the contracts that have already been concluded.
Porsche, a VW subsidiary like Audi, also wanted to get involved in 2026, but failed to work with Red Bull and, according to a report at the time in the trade magazine “auto, motor und sport”, also failed with its inquiries from Williams, McLaren and Aston Martin. An end to the Audi project would be another major image accident. Recently there were even speculations in the rumor market that Toyota might buy Audi’s Sauber shares if it returned to Formula 1. There was no evidence or sources for this.
The news magazine “Der Spiegel” recently reported that Audi’s Formula 1 project was to be put to the test internally and that those responsible at the parent company would “analyze the situation again in detail”. It is more than obvious that Döllner should first get an overview of all areas and fields at Audi. Finally, he also looked at the factory in Neuburg an der Donau.
