{"id":29219,"date":"2025-01-01T12:20:05","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T17:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=29219"},"modified":"2025-01-01T16:47:11","modified_gmt":"2025-01-01T21:47:11","slug":"f1-news-why-audi-f1-have-a-mountain-to-climb-ahead-of-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/01\/01\/f1-news-why-audi-f1-have-a-mountain-to-climb-ahead-of-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Audi have a mountain to climb ahead of 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audi will be one of several big changes to the F1 grid in 2026. Their presence as an engine manufacturer adds another variable for rivals and fans alike to consider. Still, Mattia Binotto<\/a> notes that reaching the top will be a long-term project.<\/p>\n

Audi still playing catch-up to established teams<\/h2>\n

There are two aspects to the heavily-anticipated 2026 regulations. On one side, teams must familiarise themselves with a very different set of aerodynamic rules.<\/p>\n

This will test the engineering ability and quality of infrastructure across the field.<\/p>\n

Alongside aerodynamic changes are the introduction of new engines, which – for the first time in several years – could be decisive.<\/p>\n

Under the current regulations introduced in 2022, engines have been relatively uniform across the field.<\/p>\n

Mercedes, Honda<\/a> and Ferrari power units are currently at a very similar level.<\/p>\n

Even Renault, who are lagging slightly behind, are only losing a few tenths per lap. This is a relatively small deficit compared to what some manufacturers have suffered previous years – such as 2014.<\/p>\n

When 2026 arrives, engines will once again return to the forefront. This creates opportunity, but also immense pressure, on works teams in Formula 1.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Mattia Binotto, COO and CTO, KICK Sauber F1 Team ; 2024 Qatar Grand Prix, Formula One World Championship<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Because of this, Audi are in a very difficult position. Their engine programme will be tested immediately as they make their debut.<\/p>\n

Developing a competent engine department is never easy. Alpine’s decision to abandon their own Renault power units<\/a> and switch to Mercedes engines is the latest example of this.<\/p>\n

However, the task Audi face is particularly challenging.<\/p>\n

Starting from the ground up and assembling the personnel to compete with larger and more established teams<\/a> is no easy feat.<\/p>\n

Binotto outlines Audi’s challenge<\/h4>\n

Aware of this reality, Mattia Binotto discusses what lies ahead for the team.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s not only climbing a big mountain, it\u2019s climbing Everest. It will take several years,”<\/em> he told the BBC.<\/p>\n

“Our objective is by the end of the decade to be able to fight for the championships.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Binotto also admitted that Audi’s planning caused some confusion:<\/p>\n

“When Audi bought some shares and had the programme to become the full owner in the future, internally some plans have been done.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Some strategic plans had been discussed and established – but not yet come to execution. <\/em><\/p>\n

“So Sauber have been remaining in a limbo for a while.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Second, let\u2019s say some of the focus and energies were put towards 2026, to try to make sure Audi was ready to start in 2026… took off some energy on the normal development path for 2024 and 2025.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Zhou Guanyu, Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber C44 ; 2024 Italian Grand Prix, Formula One World Championship<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is easily overlooked that Sauber’s factory in Hinwil will continue to work on aerodynamics once the new regulations arrive.<\/p>\n

From this perspective, irrespective of their results in recent years, Sauber already have relatively modern infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The next challenge is to recruit a greater quantity and quality of personnel.<\/p>\n

Something that has assisted Audi’s progress<\/a>, as briefly mentioned earlier, is Alpine’s decision to move away from Renault engines.<\/p>\n

This has left dozens of qualified, experienced engineers for Audi to sign and use to bolster their technical expertise.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Wheatley<\/a>, former Red Bull sporting director, will certainly help in this department when he begins his new role as team principal.<\/p>\n

However, as outlined by Binotto, the first step for the German manufacturer in 2026 will not be to shatter records. Instead, establishing a reasonable baseline to build upon is the first order of business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Audi will be one of several big changes to the F1 grid in 2026. Their presence as an engine manufacturer adds another variable for rivals and fans alike to consider. Still, Mattia Binotto notes that reaching the top will be a long-term project. Audi still playing catch-up to established teams There are two aspects to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":29207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2452,684,345],"class_list":["post-29219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-mattia-binotto","tag-sauber"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29219"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29223,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29219\/revisions\/29223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}