The Supervisory Board of the Volkswagen Group has approved further plans for Audi and Porsche to enter Formula 1. There are five different racing teams available as partners for the premium brands.
What became a heated duel in the World Sports Car Championship and in Formula E should also be in Formula 1 from 2026 – Audi versus Porsche. For years it has been speculated that the Volkswagen Group with the Audi and Porsche brands will be in the premier classcorresponding plans have now been confirmed for the first time: the supervisory board of the Volkswagen group has given the go-ahead for Audi and Porsche to press ahead with their Formula 1 plans.
An alliance is not expected to be announced in the near future. The group announced: “The new regulations for 2026 and the following years are not yet available.”
These regulations could be ready in early summer, but it is unclear how long the details will be disputed afterwards. This can drag on for several months.
What’s off the table: There will be no entry with your own car – as Porsche and Audi have brought to the start in the Endurance World Championship; too complex, too expensive, too long start-up time to be competitive.
Rather, the aim is either to take over a team or to play the role of engine partner. The possible allies are: Red Bull, McLaren, Williams, Aston Martin and Sauber.
Porsche as a partner of McLaren makes no sense since both companies make sports cars. An alliance between Williams and Porsche is possible, but the third oldest GP racing team is in the process of being built up, as are Sauber and Aston Martin. By far the most attractive partner is called Red Bull.
Red Bull is expanding its own powertrain department in Milton Keynes (England). Possible procedure: The combustion engine is made in England, and the electrical components are made at Porsche in Zuffenhausen. As a reminder, the proportion of kinetic energy recovery will be tripled, from around 160 hp today to around 480 hp. From 2026, the power of a Formula 1 engine will be produced in roughly equal parts by the combustion engine and the electrics. The engine’s core architecture remains: 1.6-liter V6 turbo.
Audi is taking a different approach: with the complete engine as a partner or with the variant of taking over shares in a racing team.
Last fall there was already talk that parts of McLaren would be taken over. The British immediately denied it. Because at McLaren, the thought prevails: Why sell shares now, of all times, when Formula 1 is booming and will become even more valuable over the coming years?
Williams has proven in the cooperation with BMW from 2000 to 2005: Here worlds collide between Great Britain and Germany in terms of work philosophy. It was never a love marriage, but always an alliance of convenience, and it failed.
More obvious would be an Audi alliance with Sauber, in whose wind tunnel the Le Mans racers from Ingolstadt were already standing. Then Alfa Romeo would become Audi. That’s not unthinkable: from 2006 to 2009, the Sauber team competed as BMW in Formula 1. A pure Audi is also appealing from a marketing perspective.
In the paddock of Albert Park, there is also a rumor that Aston Martin has positioned itself as a potential partner – in the event that multi-billionaire and Aston Martin CEO Lawrence Stroll sees too little progress in the premier class and wants to sell the GP racing team, which he bought as Force India and then made into Racing Point and Aston Martin.
2. Training, Melbourne
01. Charles Leclerc (MC), Ferrari, 1:18.978min
02. Max Verstappen (NL), Red Bull Racing, 1:19,223
03. Carlos Sainz (E), Ferrari, 1:19,376
04. Fernando Alonso (E), Alpine, 1: 19.537
05. Sergio Pérez (MEX), Red Bull Racing, 1:19,658
06. Esteban Ocon (F), Alpine, 1:19,842
07. Valtteri Bottas (FIN), Alfa Romeo, 1: 20,055
08. Lando Norris (GB), McLaren, 1: 20,100
09. Pierre Gasly (F), AlphaTauri, 1:20,142
10. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS), McLaren, 1:20.203
11. George Russell (GB), Mercedes, 1:20,212
12. Yuki Tsunoda (J), AlphaTauri, 1: 20,424
13. Lewis Hamilton (GB), Mercedes, 1:20,521
14. Lance Stroll (CDN), Aston Martin, 1:20,611
15. Guanyu Zhou (RC), Alfa Romeo, 1:21,063
16. Kevin Magnussen (DK), Haas, 1: 21,191
17. Alex Albon (T), Williams, 1:21,912
18. Mick Schumacher (D), Haas, 1:21,974
19. Nicholas Latifi (CDN), Williams, 1:22,307
20. Sebastian Vettel (D), Aston Martin, no time
1. Training, Melbourne
01. Carlos Sainz (E), Ferrari, 1: 19.806 min
02. Charles Leclerc (MC), Ferrari, 1:20.377
03. Sergio Pérez (MEX), Red Bull Racing, 1:20,399
04. Max Verstappen (NL), Red Bull Racing, 1:20,626
05. Lando Norris (GB), McLaren, 1: 20,878
06. Esteban Ocon (F), Alpine, 1:21.004
07. Lewis Hamilton (GB), Mercedes, 1:21,027
08. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS), McLaren, 1:21.155
09. Fernando Alonso (E), Alpine, 1: 21,229
10. Valtteri Bottas (FIN), Alfa Romeo, 1: 21,247
11. Yuki Tsunoda (J), AlphaTauri, 1: 21,289
12. George Russell (GB), Mercedes, 1:21,457
13. Sebastian Vettel (D), Aston Martin, 1:21,661
14. Pierre Gasly (F), AlphaTauri, 1:21,701
15. Guanyu Zhou (RC), Alfa Romeo, 1:21,821
16. Lance Stroll (CDN), Aston Martin, 1:21,869
17. Alex Albon (T), Williams, 1:22,754
18. Kevin Magnussen (DK), Haas, 1: 23,186
19. Nicholas Latifi (CDN), Williams, 1:23,924
20. Mick Schumacher (D), Haas, 1:24,349