Audi to reveal F1 design at Shanghai show

Audi will reveal more details about its Formula One project at the Shanghai auto show next month. The brand is entering the series in 2026, when it will provide engines for the Sauber team, which will become the Audi works team.

Audi, owned by Volkswagen Group, announced in August that it would enter Formula One racing under new engine rules coming in for 2026, with its own power unit to be built in Neuburg, Bavaria.

Audi plans to display a show car and give an update on how the Formula One project is developing at the Shanghai event, which runs from April 18-27, a spokesman told Automotive News Europe.

The choice of Shanghai for the Formula One team’s public debut is strategic, Audi said. China is the the VW Group brand’s biggest market, and at the same time has a huge base of Formula One fans, the spokesman said. 

"Unfortunately there has been no Chinese Grand Prix since 2019 due to COVID," he said in an email, adding that presenting the Formula One project at Shanghai would be a gesture of appreciation to the sport’s fans there.

Formula One will make a leap forward in regulations in 2026, when it will require use of synthetic fuels and increase the proportion of electric power to 50 percent. 

The series is also aiming to achieve a net zero carbon footprint by 2030, which Audi Chairman Markus Duesmann said in August was a “boundary condition” for the automaker's entry.

Audi said in October that Sauber Group would be its partner in Formula One. It plans to take a stake in the Swiss team.

Sauber, which debuted in Formula One in 1993, was the BMW factory team from 2006-2009, and has been the Alfa Romeo team since 2019 using Ferrari engines. That arrangement is ending after 2023.

Porsche and Audi said last year that they both intended to join the Formula One series in 2026, but Porsche’s entry has been put on hold following the collapse of a potential deal with Red Bull last autumn, according to recent news reports.