As the world is about to abuzz with the imminent entry of iconic Volkswagen Group brands Audi and Porsche into F1, Twitter is going nuts with the latest tweet from the Audi Sport handle. Seemingly, Audi Sport’s Twitter handle is teasing the announcement into F1 as F1 returns to race this weekend at the iconic Spa Francorchamps which could also be the last F1 race for the legendary circuit.
The tweet says,” more rings coming, watch this space for more,” with a graphic showing what is a rear wing of a modern F1 car. Audi is widely reported to be acquiring a majority stake in the Swiss-based Sauber team which currently has a marketing partnership with Alfa Romeo and an engine supply deal with Ferrari.
Audi is set to acquire a majority stake in the team while its current investors will also get a board seat. Audi is paying more money for a slightly smaller stake than what Andretti Global offered the team while also agreeing to use its state-of-the-art facility in Hinwil for the development of the chassis something that happens even right now.
The engine will be developed by Audi in-house and will be separate from what Porsche ends up doing. Porsche has been reported to have entered a partnership with Red Bull technologies where it will take a major stake in the F1 operation of Red Bull while also taking over the newly formed Red Bull Powertrains operation which has porched a lot of talent from Mercedes HPP. Mercedes HPP has been behind the world-beating 1.6-liter V6 turbo hybrid power unit that has propelled the Stuttgart-based giant to eight consecutive world constructor’s championships.
The new F1 engine formula which will start in 2026 has been designed keeping the needs of the Volkswagen Group in mind and when discussions happened Audi CEO Markus Duesmann and former Porsche CEO Oliver Blume were also involved. Duesmann interesting was involved with BMW Sauber in 2008 and Blume was elevated to the position of Volkswagen group CEO earlier this month. Interesting, the current F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali was also at the Volkswagen Group till the end of 2020 as the CEO of Lamborghini before that he was with Audi’s motorsport division so he has helped attract his former employers to the sport.
