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IMAGE: Virat Kohli and Alia Bhatt on the launch of Audi’s sports activities automobile R8 V10 in 2019. Audi has been in talks with the Swiss-based Sauber Group, whose crew competes underneath the Alfa Romeo identify, based on reviews by Reuters and different media. {Photograph}: Atul Yadav/PTI
Audi will enter Formulation One from 2026 with one of many sport’s current groups and utilizing a brand new energy unit to be in-built Germany, it introduced on Friday.
The Volkswagen-owned premium model mentioned it might reveal by the top of the yr which crew it might be partnering in what would be the begin of a brand new and extra sustainable period for the game.
The marque has been in talks with the Swiss-based Sauber Group, whose crew competes underneath the Alfa Romeo identify, based on reviews by Reuters and different media.
Aston Martin and Williams, who each use Mercedes engines, have additionally expressed an curiosity in linking up with Audi.
“Formulation One is each a world stage for our model and a extremely difficult growth laboratory,” mentioned Audi chairman Markus Duesmann in a press release coinciding with a information convention at Spa-Francorchamps.
“The mix of excessive efficiency and competitors is all the time a driver of innovation and know-how switch in our business. With the brand new guidelines, now’s the proper time for us to get entangled.”
Formulation One may have a brand new energy unit from 2026 with the deal with sustainability and a extra cost-efficient future. The Liberty Media-owned sport has set a purpose of being carbon-neutral by 2030.
The brand new guidelines will even convey larger electrification and the usage of superior sustainable gas, with energy unit producers additionally topic to a price cap from subsequent season.
“We have now determined to be a full electrical automobile producer and F1 did change the foundations in a means that we will enter,” Duesmann, who was beforehand concerned in Formulation One with BMW when it owned Sauber, informed reporters.
Audi’s powertrain operations will probably be primarily based in Neuburg an der Donau, close to the carmaker’s headquarters at Ingolstadt, with a separate Audi Sport subsidiary being based for the challenge.
Adam Baker, a motorsport veteran and former worker of motorsport’s FIA governing physique, will probably be chief government of the Formulation One challenge.
German rivals Mercedes, who’ve received the final eight constructors’ titles, construct their energy unit at Brixworth in central England with a crew manufacturing unit close by in Brackley.
Porsche, one other Volkswagen Group model, can also be anticipated to enter Formulation One in 2026 in partnership with present championship leaders Pink Bull.
Audi had been 13 occasions winners of the Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race earlier than quitting in 2017 and the marque has a pedigree relationship again to pre-World Struggle Two grand prix racing as Auto Union.
It can proceed to compete within the annual Dakar Rally, held in Saudi Arabia, with an electrical prototype in addition to buyer racing with GT automobiles.
Audi didn’t put any determine on the prices concerned of getting into Formulation One, or how a lot had been put aside, however mentioned they didn’t have to generate income with the dedication.
“We are going to spend as a lot cash as we did spend for the opposite racing sequence earlier than, so for us it isn’t an extra spend,” mentioned Duesmann, who mentioned the plan was for a really long-term engagement.
“There is a excessive chance of getting an Audi powertrain in an current automobile,” he added when pressed concerning the doubtless future accomplice.
“We cannot arrange an entire new crew. It is significantly better when you begin with an current automobile.”
Duesmann mentioned the plan was to be ‘very aggressive’ inside the first three years.
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