Sound alike Audi is just taking the spot of the likes of Alfa right?
The rumour/plan is to buy a 75% stake of Sauber. Alfa announced today they are leaving at the end of 2023 so there is a 2 year bridge for Audi to have some sort of advertising presence or ???
Why disperse human and financial capital over two teams? Porsche+Audi it is, just like the various 917s in Can-Am
If a soft drink enterprise can afford to run 2 F1 teams, surely VAG could easily do if it wanted (Porsche and Audi). For Audi it's almost a done deal with the take-over of Sauber, but Porsche hit a snag when Red Bull baulked at the idea of having them as equal partners. The 917 CanAm cars were sold to several private teams. In fact there was no official Porsche team in CanAm. Penske was a "work assisted" team.
Joe always in the know. I got the F1 email at 5:50 am this morning and Joe already posted this ! Thanks Joe .
It's a bit of old news now, no? But we are still in the dark for the 2024-2025 period when Alfa Romeo will have stopped supporting Sauber.
Well, it's finally confirmed after the RedBull-Audi fallout. 2026 will be very interesting regarding these German manufacturers.
You mean the Red Bull-Porsche fallout surely. Isn't Porsche interested in Williams now? I think I read something about that. Yes, the fight among 3 German manufacturers in F1 from 2026 would be interesting to follow. Still, having no German GP doesn't look good, IMO.
What will happen to 2024/2025 Sauber? Will they have Audi as an invisible title partner and/or a rebranding of the Ferrari engines?
No rebrand of the Ferrari engines. It will be Audi PU's. (Nothing to confirm this at the moment......just my gut feeling.)
Yes, I meant the RedBull-Porsche fallout. Thanks. Nothing on Williams that I have come across with regards to Audi. Agreed, Hockenhiem needs to come back to the F1 calendar BUT the organizers are not interested.
I think here you meant Porsche here. The last few German GPs were supported by Mercedes. To break even, a German promoter would have to sell tickets at a price above what the German public is willing to pay. That's the bottom line. Bear in mind that Germany is the leading economy in Europe, with one of the highest standard of living. The French GP is bound to disappear for the same reason.
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/audi-gives-update-on-f1-expansion-plans-ahead-of-2026-entry/10407147/ Audi gives update on F1 expansion plans ahead of 2026 entry Audi has provided an update on its Formula 1 expansion plans ahead of its factory entry in 2026 with Sauber after commencing work on growing its facilities. By: Luke Smith Dec 2, 2022, 2:54 PM Image Unavailable, Please Login Audi announced at the end of August that it would be entering F1 for the first time from 2026 as a power unit supplier, before a link-up with Sauber was confirmed in October. The deal will see Sauber serve as the strategic partner for the Audi team, developing the chassis out of its Hinwil base in Switzerland while the power unit is looked after by Audi in Neuburg, Germany. Audi has provided more details on the expansion of its Neuburg facility to accommodate the F1 project after commencing the construction of a new 3,000-square-metre building that will be home to the test benches for the power unit development. The building, known as F7.2, is part of an expansion of its Competence Centre Motorsport, which opened in 2014 and was home to Audi's factory racing operations for the World Endurance Championship, Formula E and the Dakar Rally. The extension should be completed in the first quarter of 2024, but the first activities should be conducted out of it from March next year. Image Unavailable, Please Login The new Audi Sport F1 concept car Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images "With the Competence Centre Motorsport, we have an ideal base for our Formula 1 project," said Oliver Hoffmann, Audi's board member for technical development. "Audi Neuburg was designed from the outset to be able to tackle the most demanding motorsport projects. This foresight is paying off. With the existing facilities, we were able to immediately begin with the Formula 1 project. "The expansion will create the necessary infrastructure for the development of our F1 power unit for the long term. "With the building extension and the installation of state-of-the-art test benches, we are giving our development team the best possible conditions to be successful in the top class of motorsport." Audi has been on a recruitment drive since announcing its F1 plans, and has already brought on board around 220 employees. The German manufacturer said its target was to pass the 300 mark by mid-2023. "Developing a power unit for the world's most demanding racing series in Germany is a great challenge," said Adam Baker, who is overseeing Audi's F1 plans. "We already have a great team at our facility in Neuburg an der Donau that is growing all of the time."
Tweet— Twitter API (@user) date Porsche will not join Formula 1 grid in 2026 Porsche will not join the Formula 1 grid in 2026 as it is believed to have ended its formal evaluation of a programme despite the championship still being of interest. The Volkswagen Group-owned manufacturer intended to enter F1 alongside sister brand Audi as part of the new engine regulations. While Audi decided to commit to building its own F1 engine and concluded a deal to buy into the Sauber team, Porsche’s talks with the likes of Red Bull and McLaren collapsed because Porsche wanted to buy a significant stake – or even a controlling one. Its prospects to join the grid in 2026 have looked bleak ever since and The Race understands Porsche’s focus is now on its existing motorsport programmes instead. This includes a works Formula E entry and a high-profile return to the top class at the Le Mans 24 Hours as part of the 963 Hypercar project. Porsche still retains an interest in F1, but it will not have an entry or affiliation with a team in the medium term. This marks the end of the best opportunity F1 has had to bring Porsche back for the first time since the disastrous Footwork partnership in 1991. And although the end of a formal evaluation of F1 does not preclude resuming the search for a partner team in the future, it is unlikely the timing will be as good as 2026 appeared to be. There are new car rules as well as the new engine coming in 2026, and the power unit will not feature the complicated and off-putting MGU-H either, which gives new competitors a better chance at taking on established teams and engine suppliers. When the initial decision to try to find a way to enter F1 was revealed last year, then-VW CEO Herbert Diess said those factors meant it was probably the last chance for a decade to join the grid. “You can’t catch up on that when you join a new team,” said Diess. “That means you can decide now to do Formula 1 – or then probably not again for 10 years.” Porsche’s Red Bull discussions were its most high-profile effort to get on the grid and it lined up a 50% buy-in into the company that designs and builds Red Bull Racing’s cars as part of a plan that would have also given Porsche its own engine supply, as Red Bull has created a new Powertrains division to build its first ever in-house F1 engine. “You need five or 10 years to be among the front runners. In other words, you can only get onboard if you have a major rule change. When the Red Bull talks fell apart last summer, Porsche insisted it was still assessing options to join the grid, but only by chasing a stake in an existing team as it lacks the infrastructure to take on a solo engine project. That is why it was not among the manufacturers to formally register their interest in the engine rules for 2026, even though that would not have constituted a binding entry. Any Porsche engine deal after the collapse of the hoped-for Red Bull tie-up would therefore likely have been limited to using the engine Audi plans to design and build, and possibly running it in the Porsche name. It is unclear how many teams were approached formally. McLaren had direct conversations with both Porsche and Audi but was unwilling to forfeit control or naming rights, which prevented discussions from continuing. Starting a new team from scratch, with the FIA opening a process for up to two new teams to join from 2025, did not appeal either due to the cost and infrastructure involved. VW has at least achieved half its aim because Audi will have a full works entry from 2026. It already owns 25% of Sauber as of this January and that will gradually escalate to 75%, with current majority owner Finn Rausing set to retain a minority stake when the transaction is complete. This is a gradual exercise because Sauber currently runs as Alfa Romeo in F1, due to a sponsorship deal with the Italian brand, and is powered by Ferrari engines until the end of 2025. https://the-race.com/formula-1/porsche-will-not-join-formula-1-grid-in-2026/
Porsche have already a job on their hands with WEC where they aren't doing so good. So no surprise the F1 project is canned. At Daytona and the 2 Sebring races, Porsche suffered from lack of performance and laggeg behind other LMDh cars (Cadillac, Acura) and the new 499P Ferrari. Winning Le Mans again may not be the walk in the park some expected.
Agree with the first statement. Sceptical about the second. You don't win Le Mans 13 times by chance.
The problem is that they wanted a huge stake in RBR, which just wasn't worth it to RB. The best thing they could've done was sponsor the 2026 engine like Ford has done now. RB-Porsche would've been a great combination and very low risk to them.
