Audi has revealed its first Formula One car for the 2026 season after the team’s rebrand from Sauber in the off-season and reaffirmed its five-year goal to fight for world championships.
At an event at the Kraftwerk exhibition center in Berlin, Germany, the team lifted the covers off its new R26 car for the first time following its maiden on-track outing in Barcelona earlier this month.
The team has retained the basis of the silver, red and black R26 concept livery that it presented at its team launch event in November, complete with added sponsorship branding.
Drivers Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto were joined by Mattia Binotto, Audi’s head of F1 project, and team principal Jonathan Wheatley for the presentation.
2026 marks the start of a new technical era for F1, including an overhaul of car designs, the introduction of active aerodynamics and all-new power units with three times the electrical power of the previous generation.
The Audi Revolut R26 racing car for Formula 1 is illuminated by spotlights on a revolving stage during the presentation of the vehicle at Kraftwerk Mitte. (Soeren Stache/picture alliance via Getty Images)
The launch, which featured two musical interludes in the lead-up to the car’s unveiling, was the culmination of more than three and a half years of planning since the German manufacturer announced its plan to enter F1 in August 2022.
Once dominant at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and having conquered the dunes of Dakar and snow of Monte-Carlo with its rally cars — and even city streets in the all-electric Formula E series — Audi, at long last, is taking all that prowess and knowledge to F1.
It announced in late 2022 it had struck a deal to acquire the Sauber team in its entirety. It has since sold one-third of the team to Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund.
Following the takeover of Sauber, Audi opted to maintain its existing base in Hinwil, Switzerland, while developing a new Audi F1 engine out of its Neuburg base in Germany.
It has also established a technology site in Bicester, United Kingdom.
Binotto said in a press release that the integration of the different team bases on the F1 project would give Audi “total control over our destiny, eliminating compromises and enabling a level of agility and innovation that is essential for success.”
“This is what makes Audi Revolut F1 Team one vision, controlling every variable from the engine block to the front wing,” he added. “This is the foundation upon which championships are built.”
The mention of championships set out Audi’s clear target, but not as an immediate goal. It understands the opposition in F1 and knows that, despite the foundations it has laid with Sauber since acquiring the team and preparing for its evolution into the factory Audi project with its own in-house engine division, the competition is fiercer than ever.
Toppling giants like Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren will take time. It’s not like Audi is starting from scratch, unlike the new Cadillac team, given Sauber’s presence. But it is still a team that finished ninth in last year’s world championship and has scored just one podium finish in the previous decade, courtesy of Hülkenberg at last year’s British Grand Prix.
There’s a required humility, something Audi has been clear about. The goal is not success in 2026. It’s to be fighting for world championships by 2030.
“We’re not here to mess around,” Wheatley said at the launch. “It’s an ambitious journey, and we’re humble. We know where we’re starting from, but we know where we want to go, and we want to get this team ready.
“We want Audi to be the most successful Formula One team in history, but we have to start where we are. There’s a journey. We have measurable milestones on that journey, and we’re excited to start it, and we’re starting it today.”
Binotto added at the launch that while Audi was “aiming to fight for a championship in 2030,” setting firm targets for 2026, such as championship position or points scored, would be the “wrong approach” for the team.
“We need to stay humble,” he said. “There is much to learn, and for us, it’s more about the attitude. It’s being there learning, continuously learning. And that’s what we need to do.
“Becoming competitive means that average is not an option anyway. And we know exactly where we need to go and what’s the journey, and it’s simply again working hard, getting there, and somehow becoming more and more serious as well for our competitors.”
Hülkenberg, a veteran driver now entering his 14th full season racing in F1, said that 2026 was “just the starting point of where we’ll be in five years” but that its progress now would be “very important and meaningful” for the future.
“I think we have all the right ingredients,” said Hülkenberg. “Now it’s our job to take this challenge and take the task, and put it into reality and on the track.”
Following its last race as Sauber in Abu Dhabi, Audi revealed its new team name and logo in mid-December, incorporating title sponsor Revolut into its branding.
The financial services company features prominently on its 2026 livery across the sidepods, nose, front and rear wings. The team also has branding from Qatar’s tourism board, NinjaOne, Libertex and Perk on the new car.
Audi will join the other nine teams at next week’s preseason shakedown in Barcelona, which will be the first opportunity for the F1 grid to complete extended running with their new cars for 2026.
Across five days from Jan. 26-30, teams will be able to run their cars on three days in the private test that is taking place behind closed doors at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The R26 completed its first run-out at the Barcelona track on Jan. 10 in an initial shakedown. Teams are permitted to complete limited mileage on filming days, which most will utilize to run their maiden laps with the new cars before the open shakedown.
F1 teams will then head to Bahrain for two further preseason tests, open to the media and the public, on Feb. 11-13 and Feb. 18-20.
Audi will then make its official grand prix debut in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Mar. 8.
